Chapter 398 – An Immortal Mountain Beyond the Seas, A Guest Arriving on the White Cloud Breeze - Part 1

Within Ocean Province, in Bright Moon Prefecture, stood the Xie residence.

Deep within its inner quarters, red candles splashed gold across the walls, yet the room was empty.

It was the eighth lunar month, the very peak of summer. Even though the residence’s broad, deep cellar still hid blocks of ice, the women refused to stay penned indoors at dawn.

Crack! Crack‑crack‑crack.

A crisp, cooling sound rings out.

A maid appeared, balancing a small pot of iced mung‑bean soup. She carried it into the courtyard and settled it on a stone table. Dense ice cubes bobbed on the green soup; one glance in this blazing heat was enough to make anyone’s fingers itch for a taste.

Another maid hurriedly put down a wooden tray, taking up a pair of jade bowls, and reached for the ladle.

“Leave it. My sister and I can manage,” a girl’s voice rang out. It was lively, burning, and edged with laughter.

She was a firecracker in scarlet, her lips curved, peach‑blossom spark in her eyes. Her clothes were boldly cut. She wore a short dress that stopped above the knee, showing off long, snow‑pale legs.

Beside her stood a woman in a pale green dress trimmed with lotus ruffles. Her dress fell to the ankle; she was quiet and composed.

The two women closely resembled each other in appearance. Yet their bearings could not be more different.

The sister in the green dress was dignified, steady, broad‑minded, and a touch more voluptuous. Of course, the girl in red was a beauty in her own right. Each woman had their own charm.

The girl in red was Xie Yu, youngest daughter of the clan lord, Xie Jian’an. She was 20 years old.

The one in green was Xie Wei, the oldest daughter, 24 years old.

Xie Yu strolled to the soup. Spotting a trace of moisture inside a bowl, she frowned. “Who washed these?”

The maid trembled. “Th‑this servant did.”

The blaze in Xie Yu’s eyes snaps to winter ice. “There’s still water at the bottom. Are you trying to make my sister and I drink dirty water?”

The maid peeked at the bowl. It was merely damp, clean rinse water that hadn’t dried yet, but she dared not argue. She dropped to her knees, tears in her voice. “I meant no harm, Third Miss. It was a mistake. I won’t do it again.”

“If you can’t even be a decent maid, don’t stay in my house,” Xie Yu said coolly. “Plenty of people are more useful than you.”

“Your servant was wrong, truly wrong...” The maid kowtowed, sobbing.

Seeing her pathetic state, Xie Yu waved a hand. “Enough. Be careful next time.”

“Thank you, Third Miss.” The maid rose, bowing repeatedly as she retreated.

Xie Yu took the bowls and rinsed it again herself. She poured in the soup, dumped the first pour, and then refilled the bowls with fresh soup. With a bowl in each hand, she approached Xie Wei. “These servants are always some steward’s cousin’s child or a worshipper’s tagalong. They take the pay but won’t do the work. How infuriating!”

“Calm down. At worst, they stacked the bowls so the bottoms never dried,” Xie Wei said with a smile.

“They’re maids; it’s their job to think of that,” Xie Yu fumed.

“Try to see it from their point of view,” Xie Wei answered gently. “Only a handful wash dishes every day, while the fine ladies back here use dozens of bowls for a single meal. Most aren’t even filled, maybe two slices of fruit, purely for elegance.

“One lady, dozens of bowls; ten ladies and you’re talking several hundred. The shapes differ, some so delicate a careless bump can snap off a crane’s wing or a carved ginseng root. Maids are human too. A hundred precautions, one slip, it happens.”

Xie Yu drained her bowl in a single, angry gulp, refilled it, and downed it again.

With a calm face, Xie Wei laughed. “Father’s arranging you a husband. Once you’re married, you’ll have to settle down.”

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Xie Yu crossed her long legs and banged them onto the stone table with a cheerfully defiant smack. “Our father, who’s half drunk every day? He wants to pick me a husband? Fine, let him. Whoever he drags in is whoever.

“Unless that man treats me well, looks after me, has real ability, is handsome, and keeps clean, he can forget about seeing me smile.”

Xie Yu leaned closer, envy in her tone. “News from the south says everything’s cleared on the Emperor’s side. You...you’re going to marry into the throne and become empress!”

“If you like the job, take it,” Xie Wei said placidly.

“Not a chance. I’d never steal from you,” Xie Yu laughed. “Besides, if His Majesty ends up my brother‑in‑law, I’ll be royal kin too!” She beamed a broad smile, and two mischievous dimples popped into her cheeks.

Xie Wei’s expression turned solemn. “Father is being deadly serious about this match. He set out four iron rules. No Five Elements Alliance, no Daoists, no Buddhists, no Lotus Cult, no battle-hardened generals, and no connections with rival governors. He keeps saying he wants you to marry a man with no complicated ties, but what he truly wants is to use your wedding to latch onto one of the hidden powers out there. That way, the Xie Clan will have an extra escape hatch and another card to play.

“So either he can’t reel such a man in and has to relax the rules, or the one who does appear will be a heavy hitter, someone who’ll matter to all of us.

“The world’s on the edge of its biggest upheaval yet; the chessboard is about to flip. Those reclusive factions can’t hide forever. If they stay underground, history will leave them behind. If they step into the light, what faster way than becoming Father’s son‑in‑law?”

“What if the fellow’s an eyesore and Father still forces me to take him?” Xie Yu huffed. “You know I loathe ugly men, I—”

“The governor of Ocean Province won’t let his daughter become a joke,” Xie Wei said with a placid smile. “So stop fretting.”

Xie Yu sighed, ladled another bowl of iced mung‑bean soup, and muttered, “I hope that day dawdles forever. I want no man. Men are grubby; one whiff of their stink and I feel unlucky all day.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

After bidding farewell to his family in Cloudpeak Province, Li Yuan headed east with a map in hand.

Ocean Province lay north of Silkfloss Province; beyond that sat the Jade Capital itself. Along the road, he kept poking at the mystery of Governor Xie Jian’an’s apparent hunt for a son‑in‑law.

If he truly wanted his daughter to lead a quiet, complicated‑free life, he wouldn’t marry the oldest daughter to the Emperor. So why these harsh limits for the youngest?

No Five Elements Alliance, no Buddhists, no Daoists, no Lotus Cult, no battle-hardened generals, and no ties with other governors...

Li Yuan concluded Xie Jian'an was trolling for a hidden clan. More likely, he was after one of two things, either a link to a reclusive power, or a prodigy who could become his right hand. If a candidate offered both, even better.

And really, the two goals overlapped. Anyone strong enough to be a governor’s trump card had to come from a proper lineage, and a lineage meant a faction. Once again, it all came back to a hidden power.

So what part should I play?

Li Yuan mused to himself. He walked and schemed, weighing the governor’s nature and the daughter Xie Yu’s temper.

Suddenly an idea took root.

His rule in life was to hide seven parts and show three. His current peak combat power was 104,572. If he displayed roughly 30,000, it should be safe.

That level of power matched that of Gu Xuejiang. It wasn’t yet at Qing Hancheng’s monstrous strength, much less Lu Xuanxian’s pinnacle, but it was still more than enough to lord it over a province.

Li Yuan saw no point faking being a ninth rank weakling, with combat power below the hundreds, just to pose as a servant or a throwaway retainer. That path invited bullying, nuisance, and made it impossible to sniff out the real secrets.

It was better to flash enough power to fit the role he desired, then tailor his plan accordingly.