Yun Ruoyan slid the mouthful of bird’s nest soup in her mouth from cheek to cheek as she began to think.

“Li” was the name of the kingdom, as well as of the imperial family. Anyone with the surname Li was, without a doubt, related. Then what did San mean? Third in succession? [1] Who was third in line to the throne?

Yun Ruoyan gulped down her soup as her fingers tapped her temples.

In her past life, she had been relatively self-centered and reclusive, never caring about what happened outside her little cottage.

But, her father being a court official, this was the sort of thing that inevitably came up in family conversations. Even without actively seeking the knowledge, she would pick up on certain things simply by diffusion.

For example, one such thing was the fact that the emperor was called Li Xiu, and there were eight princes and five princesses eligible to inherit the throne. Each prince was elegant, talented, and accomplished, and each princess a rare jewel; all were dragons and phoenixes compared to the common man.

While Yun Ruoyan had partaken in her family’s study hall, she would often hear four of these princes being brought up.

The eldest, Li Qianxiao, was the crown prince.

The second, Li Qianyuan, was birthed by a common palace maid, and had the lowest status amongst all the princes. But he was the closest of his brothers to the crown prince, and this afforded him a boost to his status.

The third was Li Qianhan, son of an imperial concubine, with an easygoing personality. He had the best reputation amongst his brothers.

The fourth was Li Qianyue, whose birth was a mystery to one and all.

According to popular opinion, he was a child brought back from outside the palace. Apparently, he had been given special dispensation by the emperor himself to leave the palace for long stretches of time, and it was very rare that he would return. There were only a few amongst the family who had seen him in person.

Could “Li San” refer to the third prince of the Li kingdom, Li Qianhan?

Yun Ruoyan’s fingers went over the carved letters again and again as a face floated up in her mind: a clearly delineated face, with eyes as black as jet, so penetrating as to leave one fearful—and the kiss that had come all of a sudden!

Yun Ruoyan lifted her hand as she subconsciously felt her lips.

“Li Qianhan!” She mouthed the words slowly.

After breakfast, Yun Ruoyan quickly made her way to the Lin estate. Her cousins intercepted her at the entrance and asked if her family had given her any trouble upon returning home. Although Lin Zainan simply stood by the side without speaking, his expression made it clear that he was equally concerned about the matter.

Yun Ruoyan sketched out her recollection of that day’s events for everyone.

“Hmph! Your sisters are certainly good at spouting nonsense, aren’t they?”

Ever since Yun Lan snuck Lin Yuemei out of his family ten or so years ago, Lin Zainan had always had the impression that the Yun family was skilled at flowery speech and talking nonsense.

“Ruoyan, it was really lucky that you had the foresight to give the tiger core to your housekeeper beforehand, or you’d have been maligned just like that!” Lin Qingxue couldn’t help but comment. “Your sisters are clearly trying to discredit you. Are all your elders so blind as to believe their words?!”

Lin Qingxue was innocent and naive, and she naturally didn’t understand the complexity of family politics that was standard at a family as big as hers.

Yun Ruoyan was certain that her grandmother and father, Yun Lan, knew far more than they revealed. Thinking back, the traps with which her sisters had ensnared her were nothing out of the ordinary, and there were only two reasons why their plans had always succeeded.

The first was that she was too soft and easily bullied: even if she had been schemed against, she didn’t know how to defend herself, and she even had the ridiculous notion that showing weakness would bring her some temporary measure of peace. Secondly, her grandmother and Yun Lan had implicitly allowed the harassment to continue. In their hearts, Yun Ruoyan was neither talented nor beautiful, with none of the qualities suitable for being the next head of the family. If not for Lin Zainan’s status, they would likely have removed her from the position on the spot.

Yun Ruoyan could tell that, even though her grandmother was less cold-hearted than Yun Lan, she too only looked on from afar. If she truly were useless, then she believed that her grandmother would have discarded her without hesitation. After all, in their minds, nothing was more important than the continued success of the family.

And for these so-called “family interests”, no one was beyond sacrificing.

After they’d talked for quite a while, Lin Zainan commanded the Lin siblings to return to their rooms to continue the studies and assignments that he’d laid out for them. Although they had been granted entrance to Kongming Academy, Lin Zainan still wouldn’t go easy on them.

Meanwhile, he motioned for Yun Ruoyan to follow him into his pillmaking chambers. The outer chamber was a small room for resting, and the inner chamber was his workspace, outfitted for the sole purpose of concocting pills and powders. Without Lin Zainan’s express permission, no one was allowed in.

Lin Zainan pressed a lever on the wall, revealing the Lin family’s treasure vault. After the last time they’d come here to retrieve the core foundation pill, this was only the second time that her grandfather had brought her here.

Yun Ruoyan didn’t know what her grandfather’s intentions were, but neither did she ask. Instead, she only waited silently and looked onwards.

Lin Zainan turned around and smiled kindly at her. “Enter, Ruoyan.”

She hesitated for a moment, knowing how important such a treasure vault was. Last time, she’d merely stood outside as Lin Zainan brought the medicine out. The thought of entering the vault had never crossed her mind—after all, her surname was Yun, and even if she was at her grandfather’s house, she was still considered an outsider!

“Well? Come on in!”

Yun Ruoyan could only obey her grandfather’s orders.

Although the door to the vault wasn’t particularly wide, the room was quite spacious, filled to the brim with shelves upon shelves, as well as containers and receptacles for pills and powders, medicines and herbs, of all sorts.

“Here in this vault is the wealth that the Lins have gathered over centuries.” Lin Zainan’s voice was at once sorrowful and reminiscent. “But of all these shelves and boxes that were once filled to the brim, only about a quarter are left.”

Lin Zainan strode over to a shelf, where he caressed the exterior of a red velvet box. Yun Ruoyan easily recognized that box as the one which had once contained the core foundation pill, the one that was now empty.

“The last core foundation pill of the Lin family…” Lin Zainan clicked his tongue at himself. “Even with a full lifetime of study, I was never able to become a sixth-rank pillmaster, and I’ve never been able to replenish our family’s coffers. Neither have I been able to save my blood, my heirs—even now, I don’t know whether your uncles are dead or alive.”

“Grandfather, you’ve already done your best for your family, for my uncles and for me.”

These past years, in order to find Lin Tianming and Lin Tianhai, Lin Zainan had spent almost half of the family’s amassed fortune. Subsequently, in order to aid her, he’d given away the family’s last core foundation pill and even sacrificed his cultivation for her, going from a fifth-rank pillmaster to a third-rank in a matter of moments.

Yun Ruoyan looked at Lin Zainan’s crestfallen expression, her heart pained.

But Lin Zainan continued, “I’m old, and my cultivation isn’t going to improve. Protecting the three of you and the Lin family is my greatest desire. Ruoyan, come here.”

Lin Zainan motioned for Yun Ruoyan to approach a shelf, from which he removed a box of white jade. He opened it to reveal a jade-green herb within.

Yun Ruoyan felt her eyes light up as she saw a sparkling essence circulating through the herb. “Grandfather, what’s this?”

Yun Ruoyan’s sudden change of expression made Lin Zainan’s spirits soar. “Ruoyan, can you tell what’s special about this herb?”

“Yes. There’s spiritual energy floating above the herb, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” She couldn’t help but smile. “Just as if there were a shooting star perennially affixed above the herb itself. It’s beautiful! Grandfather, what sort of herb is this? If it can produce its own spiritual energy, does it mean that it can become a spirit?”

Lin Zainan shook his head. “This is one of the most prized possessions of our family, an herb of essential soul. There are only two sprigs of it in the entire kingdom, one in Kongming Academy, and the other right here.”

He turned to Yun Ruoyan again in excitement. “To a regular cultivator, this herb looks just like any other, but someone with latent talent in pillmaking can see the spiritual energies floating above the herb. The stronger the talent, the brighter the herb appears.”

Under usual circumstances, only when cultivators entered Kongming Academy and became seventh-rank blademasters did they have the qualifications to test their latent talent with such an herb before specializing in the art of pillmaking.

On the other hand, thanks to this herb, the Lins could detect this latent talent at a far younger age, and preparing their most promising heirs so early on was naturally advantageous for their development. This was the largest reason that the Lins were such prominent pillmasters.

Lin Zainan had naturally also shown Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue the herb; Lin Qingxue couldn’t see anything special about it, and Lin Qingchen could only see a dull white glow.

Yun Ruoyan turned her gaze to Lin Zainan. “Grandfather, does that mean that I have the talent to become a pillmaster?!”

“Of course! You’ve always had it, but it was suppressed by the poison. Now that the poison’s fully purged from your body, your talent’s been awoken once more!”

Actually, before she was even one, Yun Ruoyan had been tested with this herb before, but she was so young that she had no memories of the event.

At the time, Lin Zainan cradled her in his arms as he opened the box, and the little Yun Ruoyan immediately pointed at the herb as she called out, “Stars, stars, there are stars!”

And Lin Zainan had beamed and told Lin Yuemei that Yun Ruoyan had an impressive latent talent for pillmaking, that she would likely become an unsurpassed pillmaster.

It was regretful that he was on bad terms with the Yuns, so he couldn’t help her develop her latent talent further. Instead, all he could do was instruct Lin Yuemei again and again to let the Yuns nurture Yun Ruoyan well.

But what he hadn’t anticipated was that, after Lin Yuemei passed away, this latent talent only diminished day by day. Although it hurt him to see her waste away, he could do nothing about it.

Luckily, Yun Ruoyan had finally regained her former glory, and he was certain that his granddaughter would one day be extraordinary.

“Today, you’ve seemed to glow ever since you stepped into the house.” Lin Zainan stroked his beard as he asked, “Did your cultivation improve again?”

“I really can’t hide anything from you, grandfather.” Yun Ruoyan raised her right hand as she emanated spiritual energy from her fingertips.

Lin Zainan’s eyes immediately went wide, and he stuttered disbelievingly, “Ru-Ruoyan, that’s a seventh-rank blademaster’s capability! Can it be that you’re already seventh-rank?!”

Yun Ruoyan nodded, her face showing only the slightest hint of a smile. “My body’s been in top shape ever since the poison was purged, and I somehow managed to get to seventh rank just like that.”

Yun Ruoyan had thought about telling Lin Zainan the secret of her bracelet, but eventually decided against it. Keeping a secret was akin to a burden, and unless it was unnecessary, she would shoulder the burden on her own.

It wasn’t a lack of trust, but rather that she felt that she didn’t need to share the secret to demonstrate her trust. She also believed that her grandfather felt the same way.

“That’s incredible!” Lin Zainan couldn’t help patting her shoulders as he laughed. “Your mother must be protecting you from afar! With a seventh-rank blademaster’s cultivation, you can finally start training as a pillmaster. After waiting all these years, I can finally accept a good disciple!”

1. San is the character for “three”.