In the silence of the alley behind the resideang Xi and Ah Tao scaled the wall with trained agility. The secret guards, already aced to their routine, didn't even bother to react. They nded softly, adjusting their clothes as they blended into the city's bustle.

  Xi's eyes wandered over the urban ndscape as they walked. The guards from the City Lord's mansion patrolled with disciplihis ral force was tasked with maintaining order and safety, ensuring that disputes between families and fas didn't spiral into chaos.

  The city was a boiling pot of activity. Hunting groups and herbal colleoved in a stant flow, carrying prey or bundles of spiritual pnts. The market stalls buzzed with ers, bargaining, and ughter. The city's strategic locatiohe Clear Water Mountains made it a meeting point for adventurers and merts. The grand mountain raretg thousands of kilometers, was a rich source of spiritual beasts and pnts, especially along its e, where the city was situated.

  'Good thing we're far from the deeper parts,'— Xi thought, brushing away memories of dark tales about cultivators who dared venture beyond the safe zones.

  As they walked, she caught fragments of versations and rumors cirg through the streets. The city's energy was impossible to ignore, brimming with specution about ret events.

  After some time, the two arrived at one of the city's fi restaurants, an imposing three-story building owned by the iial Li Family. The name, Pearl of the Mountaiaurant, was synonymous with excellent food and a refimosphere. Upoering, they were greeted courteously ahusiastically by a waiter.

  — "Sirs, would you prefer a private room?" — he asked, bowing slightly.

  Xi adopted a graver torying to soural:— "We need a table for two on the sed floor."

  The sed floor en baly that provided not only a privileged view of the bustling ground floor but also the perfeviro for eavesdropping without drawing attention. The waiter promptly nodded ahem to a well-located table, handing over the menu with a smile.

  They pced their orders. Xi chose a spiritual carp stew with jade bamboo shoots, while Ah Tao opted folden rice with stir-fried spiritual mushrooms in bck lotus flower sauce. To apany the meal, they ordered a jar of celestial white mist tea, renowned for its ability to revitalize spiritual energy.

  Ohe waiter had left, Xi and Ah Tao sharpeheir senses, attuo the hum of versations below. It didn't take long for an intriguing topic to surface.

  — "Have you heard?" — began aed cultivator on the ground floor. — "All the major forearby, including the Valley of Spiritual Herbs and the Celestial Sword Sect, are ridiculous rewards for any clue about the Five Moons Phenomenon! A Blue Illumination Pill, 500,000 spiritual stones, and even a pce as a disciple! What wouldn't I do for such a reward…"

  His ent turned several heads, and murmurs of excitement rippled through the hall.

  A more seasoned cultivator chimed in:— "That's right. The stra part was how the spiritual energy pletely vanished during the phenomenon, only to return mier as if nothing had happened. In fact, the energy density in the region still seems slightly elevated."

  Xi leaned forward slightly, her curiosity piqued. Ah Tao exged a meaningful gh her, signaling she aying attention too.

  — "I've heard the phenomenon occurred across the entire region," said another man, apparently a mert from afar. — "Many high-level forces are iigating, but no one has found anythihey're all enormous rewards. Could it have been the birth of an immortal artifact?"

  The mere mention of an immortal artifact caused nervous ughter and greedy go sweep through the hall.

  — "Whether it's an artifact or some other rare resource, I doubt it happened in a pce like this," ented a third man. — "Something like that only occur in locations with absurdly dense spiritual energy. Here, by parison, we're in a barren nd."

  Xi leaned ba her chair, processing the information. Ah Tao whispered:— "What do you think about this?"— "Whatever it is, it's drawn too much attention. And it has nothing to do with us," — Tang Xi replied, her gaze still fixed on the bustling activity below. Her expression was serene, but her thoughts were far from it. The awakening she had retly experienced had drawn an attention she would rather avoid. From now on, she knew she'd have to tread carefully.

  The silence was broken by the arrival of the tea. Xi and Ah Tao drank it calmly, letting the stillness envelop their table while the chatter on the lower floor tinued. Gradually, the mystery of the Five Moons—the ret celestial event causing su upran to give way to other versation topics.

  Xi caught a particurly lively voice from a nearby table.

  — "The City Lord's son, Lord Feng Zhan, is having his birthday this month, did you know? Invitations are already being distributed."

  The group at the adjat table, posed of young female cultivators, burst into murmurs aed ughter.

  — "Lord Feng Zhan is so generous, isn't he? He always throws splendid parties!" — one of them ented.— "Generous? He's a genius! I heard his son, Feng Lian, reached the 10th stage of the Body Tempering Realm before even turning twenty! And besides…" — the girl lowered her voice, but her mischievous tone was impossible to ignore. — "…he's incredibly handsome. Tall, with those deep eyes and an air of mystery only disciples of the Celestial Sword Sect seem to have."

  Another voice joihe versation, more dreamy:— "Ah, Feng Lian is every girl's dream. I'd give anything for him to even g me!"

  Tang Xi, who had been sippiea in sileil now, couldn't help but smile discreetly. The girls' exaggerated tone was, at the very least, amusing.

  Just then, the restaurant door opened with a firm sound. The atmosphere seemed to shift instantly, and Xi goward the entrahere stood Xing Yue, the daughter of the powerful Xing Family, apanied by several maids and guards who discreetly and effitly cleared her path. Xing Yue had a striking presence, blendiy with authority.

  She walked toward a table he chatty cultivators, but before sitting down, she seemed uo resist the otion she had overheard. Xing Yue leaned slightly, a gleam of amusement in her eyes, and said casually:— "I've heard the City Lord intends to find a match for his son during the birthday celebration."

  The impact of her words was immediate. The young womeed iement, with excmations and specutions eg through the hall.

  — "A match? Is he looking for a wife?"— "Oh, if it's true, this is a on-a-lifetime ce!"— "Do you think I have a aybe you, Mei Ling? He likes elegant cultivators, doesn't he?"

  Tang Xi watched the se with a mix of amusement and curiosity. Xing Yue seemed to notice her gaze and tilted her head slightly in her dire, a nearly imperceptible smile pying on her lips. She had to have reized her.

  Xi stifled a ugh. Xing Yue was one of the few people who didn't treat her with pity or disdaie her circumstances. From time to time, the two would cross paths, and the young woman from the Xing Family always carried a lightness Xi appreciated. Moreover, they both shared the same hobby: gossip.

  When Xing Yue finally sat down, she cast a meaningful look at Xi, as if to say, "This will be fun." Xi responded with a slight nod, allowing herself to rex for a moment while the trolled chaos of the restaurant tinued.

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