When Feng Jiu’er walked up onto the raised platform, even Xiao Yingtao and Xing Zizhou wore expressions of utter astonishment.

Why was Jiu’er here? They had heard she was recovering from an injury and had not even been able to see her.

Yet now she had gone and stepped directly onto the platform — what did she intend to do?

The people below, however, were newly selected Longqi Army recruits who had undergone rigorous training. Compared to an entire cohort of untested new students, their collective bearing was far superior.

And so, even though every one of them had questions, no one dared to say a word.

The training tower stood at the very front of the Dragon Martial Academy, which meant that beyond it lay the entire main courtyard of the military academy grounds. Word had spread that the Dragon Martial forces had selected a new batch of Longqi Army recruits in just three days, and now that everyone was assembled in the courtyard before the training tower, the students from the Dragon City Academy and the Imperial Guard Academy could not help but grow curious.

The surrounding rooftops and higher vantage points were packed with students, all eager to get a look at what this new group of Longqi Army recruits was made of.

In every previous year, the selection of Longqi Army soldiers required a full twelve months. This batch had taken only three days. Were they truly capable enough to have earned a place in the Longqi Army?

Feng Jiu’er stood in the sight lines of everyone present — including Mu Mu, who lingered in the shadows atop the training tower.

Jiu’er had not allowed him to show himself. He had no idea what she was planning, but whatever she did, she always had her reasons.

Up on the platform, Feng Jiu’er was dressed in a deep black form-fitting ensemble. Her figure was so striking that the men below could not look away.

She stood against the wind, the long braid pinned high behind her head swaying lightly with each gust. Even without looking at her face, there was something about her that was impossible to call anything but beautiful.

Zhan Yuheng stood apart from the crowd, careful not to disturb the Longqi Army’s assembly. He simply remained still beneath the trees, watching the woman on the platform in quiet silence.

The scar across her face was the greatest regret that weighed on his heart. Had he been there that day, had he gotten her out of the fire in time, she would never have been burned so badly.

If not for that scar — what would his Jiu’er have looked like, in all her breathtaking, world-overturning beauty?

Every gaze in the courtyard was fixed on Feng Jiu’er. None of them knew what she intended to do.

Feng Jiu’er was nothing more than one of the new students. She had not even been selected into the new Longqi Army — what right did she have to stand up there?

Most confoundingly of all, while her figure appeared truly lovely, her face was, by all accounts, genuinely unsightly.

Jiu’er looked down at the crowd below. Her voice carried the force of her internal energy, filling the entire courtyard. “I stand here today on behalf of the Ninth Prince to deliver orders to my brothers-in-arms!”

On behalf of the Ninth Prince.

Those words were enough to make even the relatively composed new Longqi Army recruits below break into quiet murmuring.

If the Ninth Prince had a covert mission to entrust to them, there was nothing odd about that. But why had he chosen such an unsightly woman as his representative?

Feng Jiu’er’s cold gaze swept across the crowd below. Then, suddenly, her hand rose to her face, and with a long, slender finger, she gave a sharp flick.

Something was peeled away from her face and tossed carelessly into the wind.

Time seemed, in that instant, to freeze completely.

Every last person’s breath stopped at precisely the same moment — stopped, and would not come again. Even the act of breathing felt impossible.

This woman — she was the Feng Family’s most reviled ugly simpleton, the Ninth Miss.

This woman — she was Feng Jiu’er, cast aside by the Crown Prince for being too unsightly to bear.

This woman — she was Feng Jiu’er, who had saved lives and yet, because of her appearance, had never once been accepted.

And now — she stood in the wind, dressed in deep black, her entire being radiant as a luminous pearl in the darkness.

Her face — smooth and delicate, fair and flawless, with features of perfect, incomparable brilliance.

She was the ugly Ninth Miss of the Feng Family — and yet she was now the most captivating, most breathtaking beauty in existence.