~~~
Shao Zhilan of the Divine Frozen Palace wakes up in the embrace of three men.
Gently, she extracts herself from the bed, carefully navigating through the tangle of silk sheets and limbs to avoid waking her husbands. Not that she thinks that is possible. Last night’s activities have taken a significant toll on them. Such is what happens when the disparity between partners is too great. Alas, her husbands had been eager to please, and she would never be so cruel as to deny them.
With graceful and silent steps, Shao Zhilan makes her way to the baths. As an Emperor Realm cultivator, a single burst of Qi would be enough to completely purify her body. Nevertheless, she spends over an hour relaxing in a marble pool large enough to fit several dozen people. No servants accompany her there. Bathing is a time for introspection. It requires solitude.
Besides, the sight of her naked body is one reserved solely for her husbands.
Once she is done, Shao Zhilan puts on a sky-blue dress decorated with rubies and sapphires. The dress is made of very thin material, shows much, and promises more. She is not particularly enthused about having to wear blue so often, but she is in the capital as the representative of the Divine Frozen Palace. It is important to always look the part. Clothes, jewels, perfume. All have to be picked carefully.
“How do I look?” she asks Tie Leji, her closest aide, friend, and husband.
“Marvelous as always,” her husband replies, the lines on his face creasing as he smiles.
“And the job I told you about last week?”
“The flowers have been replaced,” her husband replies. A beat passes. He raises an eyebrow. “Was it truly necessary? You cannot deny it seems...”
“Petty?” She finishes for him. “Dear, of course it was petty. In a perfect world, I would have already had Meng Yue strike down Xiao Yifan for daring to defy the Divine Frozen Palace. Unfortunately, the Endlessly Raging Valley is endlessly tedious. Thus, the silly little woman must instead suffer no end of petty and insignificant troubles that deny her even the smallest satisfaction until the day she dies.”
She looks at herself in the mirror and smiles.
“Wish me luck.”
“You never need it, but I always do.”
~~~
Imperial Cloud City is the capital of the Crimson Cloud Empire.
Its population is in the tens of millions, and its size is such that even if a person were to walk in a straight line without stopping for an entire day, they would be unable to make it from one end of the city to the other. There is not a single person who would deny it is the most important city in the entire Empire.
Every major Sect and several minor ones have a branch in the city, making Imperial Cloud City a true microcosm of the Empire. One can find people and traditions from every corner of the Empire spread over the city's one hundred and twenty-seven districts. Here, there are paupers and wealthy men. Here, there are heroes and villains. �
However, all of it is centered around a single structure.
The Imperial Palace.
It stands on an elevated platform, fenced off by walls made of stone. The main palace is only four stories high but has considerable breadth. Around it, there is plenty of open space and several smaller buildings, all of them predominantly white with red-tiled roofs.
The Imperial Palace is located in the exact center of the city. In fact, it is not wrong to say the city grew around the Imperial Palace as influential people from all over the Empire sought to become closer to the Emperor. While the Four Great Sects all boast impressive estates in the districts closest to the palace and own several businesses in the city, the minor sects are lucky if they own a single shop in the smallest and poorest districts. Some have to wait several months for an audience with the Emperor.
Lady Shao Zhilan walks into the palace with all the majesty of a queen.
The guards open every gate for her. The servants bow as she passes by. The imperial pages fight to announce her as she enters the throne room. She saunters across the red carpet, her long brown hair swaying behind her, and kneels twenty paces before the throne.
“Lady Shao, you are here once more. Why?”
“Your Majesty, is it so wrong that your servant might wish to lay eyes upon your visage?”
“What are you going to do? Kill me? You think you can do what seven husbands and forty-seven pregnancies couldn’t?” The old woman pats herself on the chest. “Go ahead, girlie! Try your best! This old lady will not move!”
Lady Shao Zhilan reminds herself that there is no reason to fear the old woman. No matter how many memories she has of learning dance and manners under the old crone’s instruction when she was but a young girl, that does not matter anymore. She has become an existence that far surpasses the tiny, shriveled old woman.
And yet, when the old woman effortlessly kicks her slipper to her free hand, brandishing it like a weapon alongside her cane, Shao Zhilan flinches.
“I thought so,” the old woman says. “You would have missed anyway. There is no reason to think your aim is better than any of your husbands. Could it be that they are impotent?”
“You miserable old crone!”
~~~
“How is she not dead yet? How?!” Shao Zhilan screams in frustration later that day while resting on her husband’s lap. She always needs care after encountering that old woman. “Did you know she was already old and wrinkled when I was a child?”
“You have told me many times before,” Tie Leji replies, brushing his fingers through her hair. From this angle, the wrinkles on his face are more noticeable. Age is slowly but surely asserting itself on him.
If only she had found him sooner or if his talent for cultivation was greater, she’d be able to keep him at her side for much longer. What a pity it is that death has to eventually take her loves away from her.
“Hmph!” She nuzzles herself into his lap. “The only reason the Emperor keeps her around is because she works as a chastity belt for him.”
“I am torn between sympathy and admiration.”
“He is a frightening man... and a sad one.”
Her husband looks like he is going to say something but stops himself when he feels a presence enter the estate. Shao Zhilan senses it as well and sighs.
“Master! This disciple greets you on this beautiful day!!”
She enters the room like a ray of sunshine, skipping instead of walking and with a smile that is wide, earnest, and contagious. She is dressed in pink and white robes made of soft, flowy fabric. Her eyes are pink too, and even her long blond hair, which bounces with her every movement, looks pink in certain lights.
She is Shao Zhilan's direct disciple, Fu Lihua.
“I heard about what happened in the palace. You and Granny Zhao are always so lively!”
“Don’t call her granny!” Shao Zhilan snaps at her disciple. “Do not ever be familiar with that woman!”
Her disciple laughs. “Oh master, you are so melodramatic. Granny Zhao is always so funny.”
“She is a bringer of pain and misery!”
“Master, you will break her heart if you say such things,” her disciple has the gall to admonish her. As if that woman had a heart! “She basically raised Xiang Rong. Anyone who has done that cannot be a bad person.”
“She raised him dull.”
“He’s not dull!” Her disciple protests, pouting. “He’s just a little dim, but that’s fine. Granny Zhao says men are better when they’re a little stupid.”
“That’s not wrong, but you shouldn’t be learning anything from that woman!” She turns to her husband in search of support. “Tell me, where did I go wrong with this girl?”
Her husband smiles at her. “Dear, if you would allow me this opinion, nowhere at all.”
~~~