Time flew. March 29th was Yun Ruoyan’s birthday, and the day she would come of age. In the Li kingdom, the coming-of-age ceremony was of particular importance; it represented the first foray into adulthood and eligibility for marriage. Given Yun Ruoyan’s identity as the female heir of the Yun family, a student at Kongming Academy, and the future consort of the Slaughtering King, her ceremony was all the grander.

“Sister Ruoyan, this dress is gorgeous!” Lin Qingxue opened her eyes wide as she stared at Yun Ruoyan, draped in a full-body, fiery-red dress that trailed across the ground. Phoenix orchids, stitched in gold thread, shone and glittered as they caught the light.

Her slender neck and fair, white skin formed a dramatic contrast with the red of the dress. Because she had been resting and eating well, and owing to the increase in her cultivation, Yun Ruoyan had grown even taller, and her body had filled out. Although she was only fifteen, she looked like a young lady of seventeen or eighteen.

With that dress, she was a mature, stunning beauty.

“Qingxue’s right, Sister Ruoyan! You look like a different person entirely!” Lin Qingchen added.

Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue had arrived at her cottage bright and early in the morning. As girls of honor in her coming-of-age ceremony, they were also dressed up formally.

[1]

“Doesn’t it look good?” Yun Ruoyan stood up and twirled around in a circle, and the gold-stitched phoenix orchids seemed to fly up into the air. As the sunlight impinged on them, they began to sparkle.

“Of course you look wonderful!” Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue chorused in unison. “It’s just that you’re giving off a different feel than usual.”

“Different? How?” Yun Ruoyan looked at her reflection in the mirror and frowned subtly. Actually, she agreed with them, but she didn’t know what had changed. After all, she had worn the same exact dress in the past, and she had appeared countless times in both her past and present lives in formalwear. Today, however, when she looked at herself in the mirror, she felt as though the woman looking back at her was somehow different in quality.

“You’ve grown up, Mistress,” Peony smiled and replied, her gaze proud. Her words gave name to Yun Ruoyan’s transformation. “Mistress, you’re no longer a child or young girl, but a woman and lady in your own right.”

Because Yun Ruoyan was born at noon, her coming-of-age ceremony was also scheduled for noon. After breakfast, the streets outside the Yun manor were jam-packed with carriages. Guests and visitors arrived in an endless stream, one that could contest the crowds that had gathered for the Yun matriarch’s birthday celebration not so long ago.

“I heard that this Miss Yun’s going to be married to the Slaughtering King not long after her coming-of-age ceremony. Is that true?” one of the guests whispered to another.

“I heard the same thing! Apparently, the wedding date’s set for three days later. I wonder why they’re rushing it so much?”

One of the guests in front of them turned around and interrupted, “Oh, you must not know! Allegedly, they’re both going to be taking part in some sort of dangerous expedition in Kongming Academy, and they might not return for quite a while.”

“An expedition hosted by Kongming Academy? What expedition, and where? How did you know?”

“Shh!” That person glanced around warily before continuing, “This is something internal to Kongming Academy, and not information most people would be privy to. However, my young master is also taking part in this expedition, and I only learned about it because I overheard his conversation with my master. My young master’s been training hard for this expedition all day long, and my master’s been collecting treasures from all over to help him prepare! They’re so busy that neither of them could spare time to attend Miss Yun’s coming-of-age ceremony, and that’s why I’m here in their place.”

“Oh, I recognize you!” the first guest exclaimed. “You must be the housekeeper of the Pei family!”

Naturally, the young master he mentioned was Pei Ziao.

“No wonder you know so much!” the second guest marvelled.

“Oh, there’s more!” The Pei housekeeper, gratified that the guests knew of him, leaned in and whispered an even more juicy secret, “You might not know this, but the Slaughtering King’s an instructor at Kongming Academy, and this Miss Yun is the only disciple that he’s taken.”

“What?!” The two guests both opened their eyes wide. “How could they get married, then?!”

“Right! To marry your master, who’s like your father…”

The Pei housekeeper chuckled. “That’s what my master said, too! That’s why he wouldn’t have shown up even if he weren’t busy!”

“Is that true? Are they really master and disciple?” Some of the more nosy guests had leaned in and overheard the shocking secret.

“Ah, it’s my turn to go in!” The Pei housekeeper didn’t dare take responsibility for spreading the secret, so he hurriedly changed the subject and weaselled his way through the front gates. However, the news that he’d shared rapidly spread among the gathered guests.

“This Miss Yun and the Slaughtering King are about to be married, but they’re master and disciple! Did you know?!”

“What? That’s ridiculous! You’re not serious?”

“I am, I am!”

Because there were so many guests, most of the guests gathered by the front gate were those of less relative importance. The more distinguished guests would enter the manor directly from side doors along the manor’s perimeter—for example, a few of the high-ranking court officials that Yun Lan knew, the princes of the Li kingdom, and a few of the young masters and misses from the various noble families who had come to join in the festivities.

“Congratulations, Official Yun! Your daughter is truly accomplished!” One of the court officials, of about the same ranking as Yun Lan, stepped forward to congratulate him. “She’ll be available for marriage after the coming-of-age ceremony, won’t she? If she’s not yet betrothed, I’d love to seek her out for my son!”

Yun Lan replied somewhat embarrassedly, “I apologize, Official Liu, but she’s already been promised to someone. The wedding will be within the week, so please do come attend then!”

“Ah!” Official Liu appeared rather shocked. “I wasn’t informed of this matter at all! To whom is she engaged?”

“It hasn’t been too long since my daughter returned from Kongming Academy. Time has been rather tight lately so we haven’t advertised the betrothal, but I plan on announcing it at her coming-of-age ceremony today,” Yun Lan replied.

Actually, Li Mo was initially adamant that the wedding be extravagant and luxurious, but because Yun Ruoyan thought that an understated ceremony would be better, Li Mo deferred to her will.

Actually, Yun Ruoyan would have preferred to not have a large coming-of-age ceremony at all either, but Yun Lan and Li Mo both objected vehemently. The coming-of-age ceremony was a milestone in Yun Ruoyan’s life, one that was customarily made known to one and all.

Since it was almost time for the ceremony to begin, all the important guests were gathered into the great hall of the Yun manor. The remaining guests would watch on from the boundary and from outside. Presiding over the ceremony was the Yun matriarch, the most senior member of the Yun family and the most distinguished woman of the household.

Yun Lan sat right below the Yun matriarch. As Yun Ruoyan’s father, he too played an important role in the ceremony. Li Mo sat right next to him, as the highest-ranking guest present, and Li Qianhan by Li Mo’s side.

Meanwhile, the crown prince Li Qianxiao and the second prince Li Qianyuan sat opposite them on the Yun matriarch’s other side.

“The propitious hour is come, and the ceremony shall begin,” the official overseeing the ceremony announced, and the murmurs of conversation in the hall immediately halted. 

Yun Ruoyan walked into the great hall, trailed by Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue. She took slow, deliberate steps, and everyone’s gaze was immediately transfixed by her fiery-red dress. Li Mo glanced at her with a gaze full of happiness and noted that a small smile was also dancing by Yun Ruoyan’s lips. When she saw him, she cheekily raised her jaw at him, her eyes dancing mischievously.

The crown prince, Li Qianhan, craned his neck and stared at Yun Ruoyan as though transfixed. By his side, the second prince’s gaze slightly narrowed. Whenever this Yun Ruoyan appeared, her appearance always looked dramatically different from when they had seen her last.

Yun Ruoyan stopped at the center of the hall. Two well-dressed servants stepped forward, one placing a prayer mat in front of Yun Ruoyan, and the other bringing a golden tray of water in front of the Yun matriarch, who immersed her hands in it.

“Kowtow to heaven and earth, that they might bless and protect thee.”

The Lin sisters retreated to the sides. Yun Ruoyan knelt down on the praying mat, kowtowing thrice.

“Kowtow to friends, family, guests and relatives all, that they might care for thee in times of need.”

Yun Ruoyan kowtowed thrice around the room.

“Kowtow to your parents and elders, that they might remain healthy now and forevermore.”

Yun Ruoyan finally kowtowed thrice to Yun Lan and the Yun matriarch.

When she was done, she sat back up, her spine straight. The Yun matriarch finished washing her hands, stood up, and allowed the Lin sisters to support her to Yun Ruoyan’s front.

A servant walked forward with a box of jade and gold. Lin Qingchen took the box and held it up to the Yun matriarch, who took out a golden phoenix hairpin and stuck it into Yun Ruoyan’s unadorned hair.

“And by this rite, thou art marked a woman true.”

1. Imagine maids of honor in a wedding ceremony.

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