The gentle breeze swept over the Fengqiao Water for eight hundred miles. Gradually, the white mist on the river surface dissipated, and sunlight sparkled on the rippling waters, creating shimring starlight. The surface of the water stirred with waves, bringing a refreshing scent that was heartening.
A beautiful and lodious tune drifted across the river. Following the sound of the zither wasn’t difficult, and one could see a dragon boat not far away.
In the tower on the top floor of the dragon boat, Li Xihan sat cross-legged, smiling gently. Her flawless, jade-like hands stiffly plucked the strings of the ancient zither before her.
Upon hearing Li Xihan play this tune again, Yan Rufeng couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
"Miss Xihan, the tune you’re playing sounds sowhat familiar. May I ask where you learned it?"
Li Xihan suddenly pressed her hands against the strings, and the zither’s sound abruptly ceased.
"Young Master Yan, is it that my playing is not to your liking?"
Yan Rufeng smiled faintly.
"It’s not that your playing is unsatisfactory. Rather, I find the lody very similar to a tune from my hotown."
"Hehe!"
Li Xihan smiled brightly and said, "Earlier, when I heard Young Master Yan play the zither, I thought that you must also be soone who appreciates the zither. Since you say that the tune I played is similar to a tune from your hotown, I am very curious as to how similar it truly is. Would you mind playing it for ?"
Yan Rufeng smiled faintly, sat cross-legged, and with a gentle wave of his hand, a wooden zither engraved with dragon patterns appeared before him.
The sound of the zither arose, a fresh and smooth lody, lively and light, akin to the sound of snow on bamboo.
At first listen, Li Xihan was greatly surprised, thinking, "How can the tune that Young Master Yan is playing resemble the tune I learned from that servant so much?"
Closing her eyes to listen carefully, Li Xihan could deeply feel from the zither’s sound the scenery of the changing seasons from winter to spring, the earth’s revival, the thriving of all things, and the vibrant life of early spring.
Suddenly, Li Xihan was stunned and murmured, "How strange, the tune played by Young Master Yan is so similar to the tune played by that servant. What could this tune be that is so delightful..."
When the tune ended, Li Xihan had forgotten to applaud, entirely imrsed in the world depicted by the zither’s music.
Yan Rufeng smiled faintly.
"Miss Xihan, isn’t this ’Ode to the White Snow in Spring’ similar to the tune you just played?"
"Ode to the White Snow in Spring?"
"Haha..."
After a while, Li Xihan laughed heartily and said, "Yes, what I played was also ’Ode to the White Snow in Spring’. "
"Uh."
Yan Rufeng’s face was full of black lines, and doubts arose in his heart.
"Did she play ’Ode to the White Snow in Spring’? But why did it sound so different to ? I really don’t know who taught her, she played it so carelessly..."
Suddenly, Yan Rufeng rembered that in his past life, when he was in the Green Moon Palace on Canglong Star, he had played this tune. The Palace Master Qingyue had thought it was lovely and asked Yan Rufeng to teach her.
Thinking of this, Yan Rufeng suddenly understood and smiled, "Miss Xihan, can you tell from whom you learned ’Ode to the White Snow in Spring’?"
Li Xihan answered without any reservations, "Young Master Yan, I learned it from a servant in my family. As for her na, she didn’t say, and I didn’t ask."
Yan Rufeng suddenly beca spirited and thought, "Li Xihan just ntioned that the Li family has summoned many newly ascended Immortal World servants. Could it be that Sister Qingyue is in the Li family..."
Suppressing his excitent, Yan Rufeng asked, "Miss Xihan, when we arrive at the Li family, could you take to see the woman who taught you the zither tune?"
Li Xihan seed to have guessed that the woman who taught her the zither tune must have a deep relationship with Yan Rufeng. Delighted, she thought, "If Young Master Yan knows that servant and I bestow her upon him, then Young Master Yan will owe , Li Xihan, a favor..."
Seeing Li Xihan not responding, Yan Rufeng urged, "Miss Xihan, is there a difficulty?"
"Pfft!"
Li Yanran couldn’t help but laugh, covering her face, "If there is soone Young Master Yan wishes to see in my Li family, that is my family’s good fortune. When we arrive at the family residence, I will take you to see her."
Yan Rufeng smiled faintly.
"That is splendid."
On the way to the Li family’s residence, Li Xihan always wore a smile on her face.
Pouring tea and wine, playing the zither, and dancing, Li Xihan used all her skills to showcase the talents expected of a cultured woman in front of Yan Rufeng.
The dragon boat sailed swiftly with the wind, and half a day later, it docked at the shore.
In the third-floor tower of the dragon boat, Li Xihan said with a smile, "Young Master Yan, after we disembark, we will ride horses. It will take an hour’s journey to reach my Li family’s manor."
There were already prepared horses. The horses in the Immortal World were all winged Heavenly Horses. In Feng City, using such Immortal Beasts as mounts did not count as unauthorized flying because these Heavenly Horses were issued by Feng City Lord, Zhao Shuo.
In Feng City, anyone who wanted to use a Heavenly Horse as a mount needed to pay Zhao Shuo ten pieces of mid-grade Immortal Jade each year.
Leaping onto the horses, the Heavenly Horses gently flapped their large wings. With a neigh and a gust of wind, Yan Rufeng and Li Xihan disappeared into the sky.
Yan Rufeng followed Li Xihan to the Li family, while the Zhao family, which had been anxiously searching for Yan Rufeng, was now deeply distressed.
In the Zhao family’s council hall, a panicked Zhao Ming hurried to Zhao Shuo.
"Brother, you must save Shan’er quickly."
Zhao Shuo furrowed his brows and said, "I’ve told you before, Yan Rufeng is Emperor Yan. You didn’t believe it. Now you see, the consequences of unsealing Shan’er’s Sword Qi without permission, how serious it has beco?"
No one had expected that, in his rage, Yan Rufeng had left the Zhao family without retrieving the Sword Qi sealing Zhao Shan’s extraordinary ridians.
That day, after Zhao Ming left the hall with Zhao Shan, he ignored Zhao Shuo’s warnings and tried to force out the Sword Qi in Zhao Shan’s body. Who could have thought that out of eighty-one streams of Sword Qi, one stream would beco extrely volatile when t with external force? If Zhao Ming had not stopped in ti, he would have been counterattacked by that Sword Qi.
Zhao Ming’s attempt to expel the Sword Qi had failed. Although he escaped danger, Zhao Shan suffered greatly.
As Zhao Ming retracted his attempts, the violent Sword Qi in Zhao Shan’s body, unable to find an outlet, rampaged within him.
A single disturbance triggered a thousand waves, and the remaining eighty streams of Sword Qi sealing Zhao Shan’s extraordinary ridians began to move, crashing recklessly inside him.
However, as the Sword Qi rampaged through Zhao Shan’s body, his ridians shattered, and his Immortal Yuan Qi leaked out.
Unable to use Immortal Law in the first place, Zhao Shan could not endure such pain and imdiately fell to the ground, rolling and wailing incessantly.
In his deep love for his son and his helplessness, Zhao Ming sought Zhao Shuo for the third ti.
"Sigh..."
Zhao Ming, who was deeply anxious, sighed, "Brother, do not say anything. It is my fault. Who would have thought that a highly respected Immortal Venerable would conceal his cultivation at the True Immortal Realm?"
Zhao Shuo let out a long breath and said, "Second Brother, it is too late to say anything now. If we don’t find Emperor Yan within a day, Shan’er will undoubtedly perish."
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