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The Grand Mountain Range once divided the lands of what will come to be called the Crimson Cloud Empire. However, many awe-inspiring battles rearranged the land and necessitated new maps to be drawn. Many cities were founded in the area which once used to be full of mountains but was left as nothing but valleys and plains, the capital of the Crimson Cloud Empire not the least among them.

As for the Grand Mountain Range, it was split in two. Down south, one would find the Grand Infinite Mountains, home of the Infinite Mountain and the sect which is named after it.

Up north, one would find the One Hundred Frozen Peaks.

As the name implies, it is a land covered by ice and snow. Vegetation is scarce, and many dangerous Spirit Beasts dwell there, eager to attack any passing travelers.

One would have to be a fool to venture into these lands.

And yet, a great many people, usually men of skill and valor, brave the cold weather and harsh terrain. They fight their way to the foot of the Divine Frozen Peak, the tallest mountain in the area, and attempt to climb it.

They do this because at the very top, miles above even the clouds, lies the Divine Frozen Palace.

The Divine Frozen Palace is made of ice and white jade. It is a beautiful structure, perfectly symmetrical and brimming with elegance. Those who dwell there are no less impressive. Indeed, the men who make the journey to the gates of the Divine Frozen Palace do so, not to admire the architecture, but to lay eyes on the beauties inside. Many poems and songs have been written of the women of the Divine Frozen Palace. It is said once a man has laid eyes on them, no other woman in the world will possibly be able to compare.

How could these men fail to be attracted by their reputation?

It is for naught, of course. Almost all are turned away, and they make the journey knowing that is the most likely outcome. No matter how small, the possibility of seeing the women of the Divine Frozen Palace is too tempting for them to resist.

Women like Dai Jie, one of the Five Fairies of the Divine Frozen Palace.

Dai Jie’s beauty is that of a lone flower blooming in the middle of a snowy field—delicate, lonely, almost ephemeral, and made all the more valuable because of it. Those who have had the fortune of seeing her even once can never forget her. When Dai Jie speaks, her voice never fails to be melodious. When she listens, her face never fails to be kind and understanding.

Except now.

Right now, Dai Jie is frowning, and quite severely at that.

It is a beautiful frown to be sure, but it is a frown nonetheless. There is nothing kind or understanding about it.

“My dear sister,” Dai Jie says, a vein above her forehead throbbing in a most ungraceful way. “You encountered a girl with a Body of Extreme Yin.”

“That is so,” Meng Yue answers with the utmost calmness, either unaware or uncaring of the many emotions brewing inside her sister.

The two members of the Five Fairies are in one of the palace’s upper rooms, where regular members are not allowed. Colorful rugs and furniture decorate the room, and pink fire merrily burns in the ceiling.

The temperature of the room, however, is rapidly cooling as Dai Jie’s temper grows short.

“And instead of coming to us, you decided to handle things on your own.”

“Correct.”

“You negotiated with the Xiao Sect in our name, decided on the terms, and upon acquiring the girl, you decided the best course of action was to take this young girl to the Forest of Frozen Phantoms, where you have spent the past nine months. You did this instead of bringing the girl here.”

“I understand, sister. I missed you as well and truly wished to introduce Xiao Shuang to the rest of you as soon as possible. However, the Forest of Frozen Phantoms was exactly what a girl of Xiao Shuang’s constitution needed.”

Meng Yue’s expression radiates nothing but patience and understanding.

Dai Jie wants to punch her.

In the first place, the Forest of Frozen Phantoms is a nightmarish land of frost and illusion where only their most capable disciples are allowed. It is not a place where one should take a young girl, especially not one so valuable. Besides...

“And throughout it all, it never once occurred to you to contact us?”

“Well, of course I couldn’t contact you. I wanted Xiao Shuang to be a surprise.”

No shame.

There is not a single trace of shame on Meng Yue’s face. Her sister just looks at her with a pleased smile on her face, as if she were waiting to be praised.

A strangled sound, completely ill-fitting for a refined lady such as herself, comes out of the back of Dai Jie’s throat.

Not for the first time since the day began, Dai Jie curses her dearest Elder Sister, Bai Lianshi. Upon learning Meng Yue had reappeared after her long absence and finding her at the gates with a child gifted with a Body Extreme Yin, their Elder Sister had turned away and entrusted the situation to Dai Jie.

How wise.

How annoying.

“Do you truly not understand?” Dai Jie asks, already knowing her cause is futile.

Meng Yue has always been like this. It is not that her sister is unintelligent or that she lacks cunning. Quite the opposite, really.

It is just that Meng Yue has never quite managed to think in the same direction as everyone else. It is a maddening characteristic that would have led Meng Yue to a speedy death centuries ago if she weren’t so utterly brilliant.

“Understand what, sister?”

“Everything!” Dai Jie shouts, throwing her arms up.

Meng Yue had decided on the terms to acquire Xiao Shuang without consulting anyone else. If Meng Yue were literally any other of the Five Fairies, such a thing would be acceptable. They are all trained to handle that type of negotiation.

So is Meng Yue, but Meng Yue is Meng Yue.

“You took her as your personal disciple without consulting any of us!”

“As one of the Five, I reserve the right to take and bring in any disciple I see fit as my own.”

On this one thing, Meng Yue is completely and utterly in the right. Dai Jie already knows that.

Still, isn’t that just a tragedy?

A girl with a Body of Extreme Yin under Meng Yue’s influence. Certainly, the girl will grow strong, but there is no way being raised by Meng Yue will lead to a healthy mind. To make things worse, the girl has already spent over half a year with Meng Yue. One could say the damage is already done.

If they acted to separate the two at this point, the result would be nothing good. Dai Jie knows Meng Yue. She was there when Meng Yue proudly introduced Xiao Shuang as her disciple. There is no doubt Meng Yue is already attached to the young girl.

Trying to separate them would just make Meng Yue… difficult.

A difficult Meng Yue is a nightmare no one wants to deal with.

The best they can do now is try to mitigate Meng Yue’s influence on the girl by being proper and dignified role models.

“You are free to do a great many things, and you have certainly done so,” Dai Jie says, annoyed. “It seems you even arranged your disciple’s marriage already!”

To think a girl so young is already married, and to a complete unknown at that!

Certainly, the Xiao Sect’s reputation isn’t bad, but...

“If you hadn’t done such a thing, we could have found the girl a far more suitable partner!”

Perhaps not right away, but in a decade or two. Xiao Shuang’s existence is one they could have leveraged to great effect.

“Sister.” The frown on Meng Yue’s face tells Dai Jie she needs to start treading carefully. “I gave my word. Her marriage will be respected.”

Dai Jie sighs through gritted teeth. “Very well.”

And really, that is all that needs to be said. Once Meng Yue has made up her mind, few can change it.

“You still should not have wasted so much time in bringing the girl to us. She has been a disciple of our Divine Frozen Palace for nearly a year, yet I am willing to bet you have not taught her a thing about our history or traditions.”

Meng Yue cocks her head to the side.

“Is wasting time really such a bad thing? You can just make more.”

Dai Jie forces herself to smile while screaming on the inside.

Meng Yue’s words are, of course, outrageous. However, Meng Yue does not realize this.

Something like making more time is not exactly beyond Meng Yue’s capabilities.

“That girl is not like us,” their Elder Sister had once said when they were all much younger. “No two winters are the same. In the same way, no two Dao are the same. Even though they might seem similar, there will always be differences. However, even though we belong to the same Sect, her Dao is fundamentally different from ours.”

Meng Yue. The Second of the Five. Powerful, beautiful, and utterly outrageous.

Their dear troublesome sister.

Dai Jie loves her. Of that, there can never be any doubt.

Even if, sometimes, she wishes she could strangle her.

Like now.

“Listen here, you—”

“Now, now, little Jie. Do not make that face. Anger ill-suits you, my daughter.”

“Great Mother,” Meng Yue and Dai Jie greet as one. Less than a second ago, they were sitting in front of each other. Now, they kneel before the door as it opens.

The woman who comes into the room is old. Her face is wrinkled and weathered, yet she still retains vestiges of beauty. She wears simple white and black robes and uses a cane to walk. Her long white hair is arranged into a neat bun. Her face has a kind smile that makes her wrinkles more pronounced yet, paradoxically, makes her look younger.

She is the Great Mother, the strongest person in the Divine Frozen Palace. Once, she was the leader of the Sect, but she has since retired and spends most of her time cultivating in peace, removed from the rest of the world. It is the Five who rule the Divine Frozen Palace now.

“Little Yue,” Great Mother says, “my dear and most troublesome daughter. It seems you have acquired an interesting disciple.”

Meng Yue smiles and nods like the proud daughter that she is.

“That is so, mother.”

“I am happy for you, my daughter. She looks like a lovely girl, and her husband is quite interesting as well.”

Dai Jie would take some satisfaction at the shock on Meng Yue’s face if she weren’t shocked as well.

“You can see him?” She can’t help but ask.

“At my age, you can see all sorts of things,” Great Mother says, waving away the feat as though it wasn’t impressive. She hums. “Oh dear, it seems you have met a distinguished gentleman, yet he hides his face from me. I don’t suppose you can tell me about him.”

Meng Yue looks down. “I am sorry, Great Mother.”

“Meng Yue!” Dai Jie cries out sharply. To deny Great Mother is the height of rudeness.

“Little Jie, my dear and most diligent daughter, do not grow angry at your sister,” Great Mother says with a smile that instantly puts out the flames of Dai Jie’s anger. “You know as well as I do that your sister always means well, awkward though her manner may be.”

Her cane taps the floor once.

“The girl will stay. Her marriage will be respected. Meng Yue will teach her. Of course, I am counting on the rest of you to help her.”

Great Mother no longer has any say on the Sect’s affairs. She has given up her duties. Any of the Five could easily reject her orders.

“As you command, Great Mother!”

Not a single one of them will dare to ever think of something like that.

Great Mother smiles. “Good. I am counting on you to tell the others. It should be just a matter of moments now.”

Dai Jie blinks in confusion as she follows Great Mother’s gaze. A second later, all molecules of water in the air stop as space itself is shifted.

“Meng Yue!” A woman cries out as she enters the room, her Qi glowing around her, forming a crown of ice and snow. “You thundering oaf of a woman, I have had enough of you!”

Her beauty is the very harshness of winter—distant, cold, and impossibly exquisite. Unlike Dai Jie, whose frail beauty will never fail to draw people to her, the beauty of this woman is such that people will be inexplicably scared of her.

She is Bai Lianshi, First among the Five.

To anger her is to court death.

Meng Yue is already on her feet, a smile on her face and a bounce on her step.

“How joyous, I was getting worried Elder Sister wouldn’t greet me properly.”

Meng Yue is still smiling even as she’s violently blasted through the walls.

“I do wish they’d wait until the others gathered,” Great Mother says, suddenly at Dai Jie’s side. “They would benefit much from watching their spars.”

Bai Lianshi and Meng Yue. The First and the Second.

They have sparred four hundred and seventy-three times.

Each has only won one hundred and five times. The rest of their matches have always ended in ties.

Dai Jie sighs as she sits beside Great Mother to watch her sisters fight.

It is yet another day in the Divine Frozen Palace.

~~~