Cloudveil City,

At the city gate,

A group of guards stood idly at their posts, spears resting against their shoulders as they passed the time with casual chatter.

Then, one of them suddenly lowered his voice.

"Hey... have you noticed? Lately, there’s been a lot of wealthy individuals coming in from the Fen Dynasty."

"Yeah, I noticed it too," another replied then frowning. "But it’s strange. There aren’t any major events happening in the city right now."

The guards exchanged puzzled looks.

These past few days, there had been a sudden surge of people arriving from the Fen Dynasty.

They couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly make so many individuals travel such a long distance just to reach Cloudveil City.

After all, the nearest border between their region and the Fen Dynasty took at least a week of travel.

Could something big happening that they didn’t know about?

Just then, one of the guards noticed two figures approaching.

The moment he recognized the man, all of them broke into smiles and greeted him warmly.

"Ah, Alchemist Li! You’ve returned."

It was Li Feng, a well-known alchemist in the city.

And the guards had personally greeted him several times before.

However, they all suddenly froze when they saw the breathtaking woman walking beside him.

The moment they caught sight of her beautiful face and striking white hair, every guard straightened up and respectfully made way for the pair.

Li Feng blinked at their sudden change in behavior but simply smiled and waved before continuing into the city with Yue Lan.

Only after the two had walked far enough away did the guards finally let out a collective sigh of relief as cold sweat forming on their backs.

A new guard murmured softly, still staring in awe, "That fairy... she’s so beautiful..."

But then the experienced guards immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

They anxiously glanced back at Li Feng and only after confirming the woman hadn’t heard or reacted did they release him with another sigh of relief.

The new guard blinked in confusion. "What? What’s going on?"

Seeing his confusion, a senior guard sighed deeply and explained in a low voice.

"You’re still too new, so you probably don’t know this yet... but the more beautiful a fairy like woman is, the more dangerous she tends to be."

He swallowed nervously before continuing, "...Especially one with white hair."

In this world, white hair wasn’t uncommon.

However, a youthful and exceptionally beautiful person with white hair usually meant one of two things:

Either she had cultivated a profound technique that affected her physical appearance, or...

She was an old monster in a young body.

In short, to these guards, a gorgeous fairy with white hair was no different from encountering a powerful sect elder.

There were even official guidelines issued to city guards specifically warning them not to offend such individuals.

Unfortunately, it seemed the newcomer hadn’t read them yet.

With a dark expression, the senior guard ordered him to go back and thoroughly study all the guard protocols and guidelines.

Once the new guard left grumpily, the senior guard looked back in the direction Li Feng had gone and couldn’t help but wear a strange, envious expression.

After all, every time Alchemist Li returned to the city, he was always accompanied by another breathtaking fairy.

’How enviable...’

But he knew his limits.

In the end, he could only sigh inwardly with jealousy.

_

_

Li Feng continue to walked casually toward the Wei Alchemy Hall, but he couldn’t help noticing the attention everyone on the street was giving him... or rather, giving to Yue Lan.

"Mother, that big sister is so beautiful..."

"Shh.. don’t point at her!"

"Such an extraordinary fairy... Is she from the Azure Moon Sect?"

Hearing all the whispers around them, Li Feng simply smiled.

After all, the more they praised Yue Lan, the more his ego swelled.

She was his Dao Companion, after all.

Of course, if some idiot actually tried to hit on his woman today, he wouldn’t mind breaking a few bones.

Yet strangely, despite the countless gazes and hushed admiration, not a single young master or self-proclaimed genius approached them.

Li Feng raised a brow slightly.

’Huh... not quite what I expected.’

Perhaps those cliché encounters weren’t as reliable as he’d thought.

"What’s wrong?" Yue Lan suddenly asked softly, noticing he seemed lost in thought.

"Oh, it’s nothing," Li Feng replied with a smile. "It’s just that many people seem to admire you, Lan’er."

Hearing his words, Yue Lan didn’t say anything.

She simply smiled softly in response.

Another wave of hushed gasps spread through the crowd, as if hearts had been seized all at once.

Meanwhile, not all attention was directed at her as a small group stood off to the side, their gazes fixed on Li Feng.

"So that’s the alchemist from the Wei Alchemy Hall?"

"Send word to the master. He’s here."

"...Maybe we can persuade him to help us?"

Even from a distance, their whispers reached Li Feng’s ears with perfect clarity.

His senses, sharpened far beyond ordinary cultivators, caught every word.

He tilted his head slightly, wondering what these people wanted from him.

Still, he wasn’t worried in the slightest.

Soon, they arrived at the Wei Alchemy Hall.

Or rather... just outside it and noticed a large crowd had gathered densely in front of the building, forming a restless wall of bodies.

And at the entrance, several unfamiliar men in robes stood guard, blocking the way entirely as each of them radiated the steady, oppressive aura of Qi Refinement cultivators.

Clearly, it seem no one was being allowed to go inside. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Seeing this, Li Feng’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’Hmm? Who are this people?’

Something was clearly wrong.

He reached out and tapped the shoulder of a fat man standing near the back who appear to be a well-dressed, middle-aged figure whose expression was twisted with irritation.

"Excuse me," Li Feng said calmly. "Is something happening at the Wei Alchemy Hall?"

The man didn’t even turn at first, letting out an annoyed sigh.

"I’m not sure. Apparently, there is some ’important meeting’ going on. At least that’s what the guards told us."

Then he sneered, clearly unconvinced.

"What kind of meeting lasts four hours? Sounds like nonsense to me. That Wei Zhong is probably up to something again."

He shifted his weight impatiently.

As a local, he was well aware of the Wei family’s internal mess and right now, he had more pressing concerns.

...He had run out of his Yang Boosting Pills.

And tonight... he had plans with his new mistress.

"Well, what can we do? We’re just ordinary folk," he continued.

"But I heard someone already informed the City Lord’s Manor, so there might be—"

Just then, he turned mid-sentence and froze.

Towering behind him stood a tall, broad shouldered young man as his presence was impossible to ignore.

And then recognition struck instantly.

"A-Alchemist Li!"

Li Feng smiled faintly and gave a small nod of thanks before stepping past him.

At the same time, a cold smile appeared on his lips.

The crowd also noticed his arrival and quickly parted ways.

Some were eager to watch the upcoming good show, while many others stared in awe at the silent, ethereal beauty following behind him.

Together, they moved through the parted crowd, like a blade cutting cleanly through still water.