However, when she went back to sleep, Mingyi spent the entire night dreaming of Ji Bozhai clinging to the door, hugging a pillow, and gazing at her. The stray strands of hair by his ears were blown by the wind to the corner of his lips, where they were lightly pressed by his thin mouth. His usually scheming black eyes were unexpectedly watery, slightly upturned, breathtakingly beautiful yet pitiful.
Early the next morning, Luo Jiaoyang and the others began their training in the courtyard. They noticed that the local Fighters of Azure Snow City were less afraid of the cold, seemingly due to a special flow of Essence Power around their bodies. They wanted to learn how to channel that Essence Power so they wouldn’t be affected by such frigid environments in the future.
When Mingyi pushed open the door, yawning, she was greeted by the aroma of food.
"Good morning, Ming Guniang," Luo Jiaoyang smiled as soon as he saw her, immediately stopping his practice to fetch her a steaming bowl of food. "Headmaster Qin and Lord Ji have already left. Lord Ji specifically instructed us to save this hot congee for you."
The congee was fragrant, with finely chopped shrimp mixed in.
Mingyi took a sip, and her mood instantly lifted. "Who made this?"
"Headmaster Qin," Luo Jiaoyang whispered after glancing around. "I never expected him to have this skill. He even used Essence Power to cook it. You missed it since you woke up late—it was amazing."
A gentleman stays away from the kitchen, but cultivation was another matter. Qin Shangwu, too embarrassed to take their gold for nothing, reluctantly showcased his culinary skills—honed by his lazy wife in the past.
Mingyi finished every last drop of the congee, licked her lips, and headed to the well to wash the bowl. Fan Yao quickly stopped her. "We have training tasks. All trivial chores must be done using Essence Power."
Washing a bowl normally would be simpler, but Ji Bozhai had ordered them to keep their hands off both the water and the bowl. Instead, they had to use Essence Power to draw water from the well and clean the bowl.
At first, Luo Jiaoyang thought he was just making them do chores, but after trying it, he realized this routine was more exhausting than their usual training on wooden dummies—yet it improved the precision of their Essence Power.
And so, the bowl was snatched from Mingyi’s hands.
Amused, she walked into the courtyard and flipped through the manuals they had left on the ground. To her surprise, they contained the secrets of how the people of Azure Snow City used Essence Power to ward off the cold.
Mingyi raised her hand and tried it out.
Though her poison had been cured, her Meridians were still in ruins. Before circulating Essence Power, she first had to use it to patch the gaps in her Meridians, making her movements slower than others.
But once the gaps were filled, with a flick of her wrist, Essence Power flowed around her, shielding her from the biting wind and cold.
Luo Jiaoyang, returning from washing the bowl, was so startled he nearly stumbled. "Y-you’ve already mastered it?"
Mingyi withdrew her hand and demonstrated again. "It’s not hard."
Fan Yao and Chu He: "..."
They had been practicing for two hours and still hadn’t grasped the basics. This was downright demoralizing.
Luo Jiaoyang circled her twice before reluctantly admitting, "So it’s not that women lack talent—they just lack opportunities to cultivate."
Her comprehension was leagues ahead of theirs.
Mingyi smiled and demonstrated twice more. Luo Jiaoyang and the others finally understood and managed to circulate Essence Power around themselves.
Just as they were engrossed in practice, the door was suddenly pushed open. A group of guards clad in Frost Iron Armor entered, scanned the room, and immediately locked onto Mingyi, signaling for her to be taken away."What's going on?" Luo Jiaoyang and the others stepped forward to shield Mingyi. "Broad daylight, is there no law anymore?"
It was the first time the leader had heard such words. He paused in surprise before asking sternly, "Are you outsiders?"
"Yes."
"Which city are you from, and what brings you here?"
"We're from Star Yearn City, just passing through to see the sights," Mingyi replied.
The leader waved his men back and gave Mingyi another glance. "Women shouldn't wander around freely outside."
With that, the group noisily withdrew.
Mingyi remained unfazed, but Fan Yao was puzzled. After closing the door, he muttered, "Did women offend them somehow?"
"Due to the harsh climate, Azure Snow City has a deeply entrenched survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Women are seen as inherently weak, valued only for reproduction. Every year, the city gathers eligible women from every household for Concentrated Breeding," Mingyi explained.
Luo Jiaoyang frowned. "What's Concentrated Breeding?"
"From the inner court nobles down to commoners, all women are treated like goods, passed around until they conceive. Once pregnant, they're honored with a place in the maternity ward to carry the child. If the child shows strong Essence Power, regardless of lineage, they're sent to the inner court for upbringing."
"As for ordinary children or female infants, they're returned to their mothers' families to be raised as heirs."
This was Azure Snow City's unique way of survival—and the one Mingyi despised most. That's why she never showed mercy when dealing with its people each year.
"I thought women in Star Yearn City were treated poorly enough, but here they're treated like commodities," Chu He glanced at Mingyi. "Ordinary women might endure it, but what if another like Ming Guniang were born here? What a waste."
Mingyi raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'ordinary women might endure it'?"
Chu He blinked, confused.
"Ordinary women are people too. Even without Essence Power, they farm, weave, and contribute to society. Without them, cities would only decline."
She hadn't planned to elaborate, but since they'd be traveling together, Mingyi didn't want misunderstandings. "Azure Snow City resorted to Concentrated Breeding precisely because they devalue women. Families refuse to bear daughters to spare them this torment, so most female infants are drowned at birth. Over time, adult women became so scarce that households couldn't wed normally, forcing the authorities to seize women by force."
"Talent like mine is rare, but because they deny all women their humanity, even a Crimson Veined Infant in Azure Snow City would have long died in a creek. So if ordinary women have no future, neither do women like me."
Chu He pondered this and nodded—such was the way of the Six Cities.
Still, they lacked the power or motivation to change it. After all, it didn't concern them directly.
Mingyi hadn't expected otherwise. Having made her point and seeing no objections, she softened. "To avoid trouble, I'll wear men's clothing from today onward. Just call me Mingyi."
"Understood, Mingyi."
With a nod, she returned to her room to change. Tying up her hair, she headed out to buy molds for Artifact Crafting.Today was the arrest day in Azure Snow City, with men everywhere watching the spectacle. Mingyi was making her way through the crowd, about to enter a shop, when suddenly a small hand grabbed the hem of her clothes.
She turned around and saw a fresh-faced child, about thirteen years old, clutching their disheveled hair tie in one hand and gripping her with the other, looking up at her helplessly.
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