Yu Diexin sits alone at a table on the ground floor, her posture relaxed, her expression composed.
The Pearl House is alive with quiet elegance.
The lobby and checking counter occupy the left side of the ground floor, voices low, footsteps soft against polished stone.
To the right, the dining hall rises slightly, separated from the lobby by a clear glass partition.
From the left edge of the dining area, one can see everything—guests arriving, servants moving, guards shifting at their posts.
Yu Diexin has chosen this seat deliberately.
She listens to the singer on the central platform, a woman with a clear voice that drifts through the hall like flowing water.
The melody is gentle, refined, meant to calm rather than excite.
Her spoon idly circles her bowl of pearl chicken soup.
At the Pearl House, every dish contains edible spiritual pearls, refined to different grades.
Some enhance vitality.
Some calm the mind.
Some simply exist for pleasure.
Yu Diexin lifts one pearl with her spoon and places it on her tongue.
It melts slowly.
A cool, tingling sensation spreads through her mouth as refined spiritual energy seeps into her body, flowing along her meridians.
Her Qi stirs, cleansed and softened.
For a brief moment, she allows herself to enjoy it.
Then—
Her fingers stiffen.
Her eyes widen.
Shen Ling steps into the lobby.
He is dressed well, his bearing confident, surrounded by attendants and guards.
He looks unchanged from her memory—handsome, composed, every movement carrying practised authority.
And then memory surges.
A palm strike.
Crimson Qi.
Her father's chest collapsed inward.
The sound of bone breaking.
The moment his eyes lost focus as he fell.
Killing intent flashes through her like lightning.
Her breath hitches.
She suppresses it instantly.
Years of cultivation force the murderous surge back into her core, sealing it beneath layers of calm.
But it is already too late.
Shen Ling pauses.
His steps are slow.
He turns his head slightly, brows knitting as if sensing something amiss.
His gaze sweeps the dining hall.
Their eyes meet.
For a heartbeat, the world stills.
Yu Diexin feels her heart pound—but Shen Ling's eyes hold only mild puzzlement, not recognition.
She looks different now.
Bone structure altered.
Facial contours subtly shifted.
Her aura was carefully masked.
The Bone Changing Technique has done its work perfectly.
She lowers her gaze, then nods politely in his direction, the gesture casual, unremarkable.
Then she turns her face away.
Shen Ling watches her for a moment longer, then dismisses the sensation and continues forward.
Yu Diexin exhales slowly.
Her hand tightens around the edge of the table beneath the cloth.
She does not look back.
Not yet.
She does not have the power to confront the Shen Family directly.
Not yet.
So she waits.
Yu Diexin lets the noise of the Pearl House wash over her as her thoughts turn inward, sharp and methodical.
Her plan hinges on one thing.
Entering the Duan Family.
Chu Feng helped her survive, helped her hide, helped her recover—but he never allowed her to join his organisation, never revealed its name, never let her step beyond the outer edge of his protection.
She understands now that whatever he belongs to is deeper than personal revenge, bound by rules he cannot break for her sake.
So she chooses another path.
If she can enter the Duan Family, everything changes.
With the Duan Family behind her, she can expose the Shen Family, crush them publicly, and reclaim Yulan City not as a fugitive, but as its rightful ruler.
There are other noble families in the Song Kingdom—some even more powerful than the Duan Family.
She has considered them all.
But she chooses the Duan Family for three reasons.
First, Duan Yueqing is there, someone she trusts, someone who knows the truth.
Second, Duan Merin is a lieutenant of the Divine Guards, a man who can wield the authority of the court itself.
Third, the Duan main line is thin.
Only two remain.
Duan Merin.
And his younger brother, Duan Lin.
The older generation died in the war years ago.
Those who survived passed away naturally soon after.
Once, everyone believed the Duan Family would tear itself apart—branch families devouring the main line, power splintering into chaos.
Two boys were not supposed to survive that.
But Merin did more than survive.
He crushed the ambitions of the branch elders.
He rebuilt the family's influence through business and court leverage.
In just a few years, the Duan Family rose again—stronger, cleaner, feared.
Now they stand among the top noble families of the Song Kingdom.
Yu Diexin exhales softly.
That is the problem.
Duan Merin is not a man who can be manipulated easily.
He is cautious.
Rational.
Cold when necessary.
Everything she has learned about him points to the same conclusion—he does not act on impulse, nor does he bend to sentiment.
So she thinks deeper.
The only method she sees that can bind him without breaking him is marriage.
Not a political proposal.
Not seduction alone.
A child.
If she marries Duan Merin and bears his child, then tells him the truth of her identity, he will not harm her.
A man like him will not abandon the woman carrying his blood.
And then she can bargain.
The Shen Family's position.
Control over one-third of Yulan City.
The future influence of a sovereign city-state.
With the false Yu Diexin, the Shen Family already controls the city.
With the real Yu Diexin, the Duan Family can take it completely.
It is a deal too valuable to ignore.
But there is another obstacle.
The line to marry Duan Merin stretches for kilometres.
Daughters of noble houses.
Hidden beauties of merchant clans.
Even the royal family is rumoured to be considering marrying a direct-line princess to him.
And Duan Merin himself is in no hurry.
He has no visible desire to marry.
No urgency.
No weakness she can exploit openly.
Yu Diexin lowers her gaze to the pearl dissolving in her soup.
Then her eyes harden.
If the proper path is blocked—
She will use an improper one.
If she cannot persuade him, she will force the marriage.
Not with violence.
With circumstances.
With inevitability.
With a situation where refusal costs more than acceptance.
She closes her fingers slowly.
Revenge is worth the price.
A few minutes later, movement at the entrance of the Pearl House draws her attention.
Six figures step inside, their presence subtly shifting the atmosphere of the hall.
Her gaze is pulled—unwillingly—to the young man walking at the centre.
He is handsome, but not in an overwhelming way.
What unsettles her is not his appearance, but his bearing.
He walks as if the world has already been measured, weighed, and found wanting.
His aura is restrained, calm, vast—like deep water that hides unfathomable depth beneath a still surface.
For a brief instant, her instincts scream.
Run.
The warning does not come from her mind alone, but from her Gu.
The Nine-Eyed Butterfly Gu stirs violently within her dantian.
It has reverted to its nascent form, weakened—but it is also undergoing a slow, dangerous evolution.
In its lifetime, it must moult nine times to reach its true form.
Each moult demands an enormous amount of energy.
She cannot afford even the first.
Yet the Gu reacts anyway, sending a pulse of unease through her meridians, as if recognising a predator it cannot name.
Yu Diexin does not hesitate.
She rises smoothly from her seat, leaves the dining hall without looking back, and ascends the stairs to her floor.
Her steps are steady, her expression composed.
Only when the door to her room closes does she allow herself to breathe.
" He is dangerous."
" But I have to get close to him for revenge."
Minutes later, Duan Yueqing enters.
Her face is pale, tension drawn tight across her features.
She drops into a chair, fingers gripping the armrest.
"Are you sure?" she asks.
"He won't get suspicious of me?"
Yu Diexin answers without pause.
"Of me, yes. Of you, no."
Duan Yueqing exhales sharply.
"So, according to the plan," she says slowly, "I invite my cousin to test a new body-refining potion in the hot water pool. The potion reacts with the incense and becomes an aphrodisiac."
Yu Diexin continues calmly, finishing the thought.
"And when he is close to losing control, I enter the pool to inspect the effects as the potion's creator."
Yueqing's voice tightens.
"Your body will be sprayed with a scent that draws attention. Smelling it, he will lose control and force himself on you."
"Yes," Yu Diexin says simply.
Duan Yueqing stands abruptly.
"I'll prepare it," she says, then pauses at the doorway.
She turns back, searching Yu Diexin's face.
"Are you sure?" she asks again, more quietly.
"I don't know how my cousin will react."
"And Chu Feng… he won't like this."
Yu Diexin's gaze does not waver.
"I have considered everything," she says.
"This is the fastest path to revenge."
Duan Yueqing looks for hesitation.
Finds none.
She exhales, defeated, and leaves the room.
Yu Diexin remains standing, hands folded, waiting for the night to fall.