After Miss Juese - Ming Suwen - secretly tailed Ming Feizhen to the roof of a large building, she saw the two in a deep, affectionate and passionate kiss from afar. The sight of them kissing caused her heart to throb with pain. Her charming body was still steady in the freezing night breeze, but her entire body was empty. When the wind blew, it was as if it blew without obstruction.
Her pretty feet were snow white, supple and shapely and beautiful as cat paws. However, her adorable feet possessed immeasurable destructive force that one couldn't tell from their appearance. Had she willed it, she could've moulded energy to leap in between the two. Given her prowess with Daluo's Five Divine Styles Manual and Heavenly Net Treasure Records, she could have killed weak Jingan even with Ming Feizhen present using a single powerful technique that could defy the realm of human belief. Demoness Ming Suwen was never afraid to do things that would stun the entire world; however, she didn't harm Jingan.
The beauty, who was thought to exist only in fantasies, stood silently in the distance. Ming Suwen watched him slowly leave and vanish before her sight. Only she remained in place. The clear and cold moonlight enveloped her. The sight of her atop the roof gave the impression that she was the only person in the world. Miss Juese's melon-shaped face that could only be described as entrancing was void of emotions as if it had turned to ice.
Her initial anger, palpitations and disappointment gradually turned into sadness, hopelessness and indifference. Nobody had any way of knowing for sure how her emotions changed; they could be depicted as a flame that had gone out, a representation of absolute despair.
Ming Suwen didn't plan to go and question what Ming Feizhen what he was doing there or why he treated her as if she was non-existent while being together with another woman. She didn't plan to act up, pretending to be angry and throwing a fit so that he'd pamper her again then leave as a girl would, because she understood Ming Feizhen. She knew what the answers to her questions were.
Whatever she did, including turning the pugilistic world upside down and inside out, Ming Feizhen would never chide her whatsoever. Despite that, however, he wouldn't choose her, either.
Ming Feizhen wouldn't betray his shifu and definitely not Mount Daluo. His shifu and Mount Daluo were people and things that he cared deeply for; there was no chance of erasing those feelings. Ming Suwen didn't want to put him in a dilemma.
Miss Juese stood in the night breeze as she recalled her memories with Ming Feizhen, from the major to the every minor detail. Alas, she couldn't recall it all, for it had been too long. Before she knew it, they had known each other for twenty five years.
She was acquainted with him from the time that they were still infants.
Ming Suwen didn't have parents. According to what she heard, she only had Hero Shenzhou as her distant cousin, a claim that she had never believed. No matter how one looked at it, their age gap was too great. Moreover, if her parents were Hero Shenzhou's relatives, why did everyone in her family die? She always questioned that. Subsequently, she never believed that she had a relative, except for one person.
Said person was silly and commonly considered himself to be useless. He loved to trouble himself with things where no answer or solution existed, eat and drink, but was willing to ignore everything to dedicate himself to his beliefs.
Those traits, his character and his unique traits made him very adorable, but they were not the reasons that Ming Suwen missed Ming Feizhen. Long ago, at least, Ming Suwen was of the opinion that those aforementioned traits of his were so silly that she didn't want to spare him a glance.
Their fate went beyond liking or not liking each other. Their fate could be described as one without room for choice, and one that was set by fate with no logic to speak of.
Ming Feizhen was older than Ming Suwen by three years, and he was the only one who didn't cause her to cry when he hugged her. As such, he began to take care of her from then until now.
From Ming Suwen's perspective, Ming Feizhen had become someone who she had taken for granted.
Why ask why the sun comes out?
Why ask why night comes after day?
Who would one insensibly ask why someone loves them? The reason couldn't be any simpler. It's because I am me, and you are you.
A long time ago, though, Ming Suwen didn't recognise what the feeling was. She was beautiful, and she was aware of that. She knew even better what others around thought of her.
Hero Shenzhou was old and never commented on her appearance. Her martial nephew, Ming Huayu, on the other hand, once remarked, "I like beauties, but Martial Senior Aunt is just too beautiful. Peerless beauty is not to the advantage of a woman."
Ming Huayu was correct; ever since Ming Suwen set foot in the pugilistic world, there were people who coveted her; some envied her and there were those who were jealous of her. All her beauty did was cause her trouble. After many years in the pugilistic world, there was virtually nobody who wasn't heartbroken or filled with heartfelt admiration for her beauty. There were humble and proper men who would lust for her due to her beauty. She had also met suave, heroic, handsome and extraordinary men. Sadly, she couldn't help, but feel that there was something missing. As a result, she was still single when other girls her age were married.
All that changed when she met a twenty-three year old Ming Feizhen when she was twenty. He was in his prime at the time. He was renowned throughout the pugilistic world at the time; there was nothing that he couldn't do. Nevertheless, he couldn't hide his emptiness and loneliness.
She, similarly, felt as lonely as he did. That was why she wanted to understand the reasons behind her loneliness.
One night, she used some tricks to pry his secrets out of him, thereby finding out about the woman deeply etched in his heart. It was then, when she found out about the secret, that she suddenly had the realisation that she had feelings for Ming Feizhen and that the feelings she had for the woman in his heart was jealousy.
The ultimate beauty learnt how jealousy felt for the very first time in her life that night. After that night, she learnt how missing someone and melancholy felt.
Helping Huo Qing'er was just one of her reasons for returning to the capital. She also wanted to help herself. She was aware that Ming Feizhen would find his own happiness at some point, but the one to give him happiness wouldn't be her, for sure. But nonetheless, she knew that if she didn't try to win his heart, then her chances would be zero.
She inquired about Ming Feizhen's social circle from Su Xiao. She learnt that Ming Feizhen was no longer deliberately avoiding intimate relationships with females, which meant that he was no longer traumatised by that experience and could accept someone into his heart again.
Alas, when she saw him kiss with Jingan, she suddenly realised that the one to enter his heart would still not be her. Despite her competition being a Princess, Liu Shan Men's Vice-captain and even Su Xiao, she would never be the one who could truly make Ming Feizhen blissful.
Ming Suwen silently turned around and took off, gusting up winds in her wake.
After that night, two events shook the entire capital.
The first event was the Emperor betrothing his daughter. Princess Hongzhuang was to be married off. The two candidates were Jin Wangsun, patriarch of Gold and Silver Sect, one of the Seven Champion White Princes, and Mount Daluo's disciple. Everyone had their eyes on the intense contest between the two on New Year's Eve.
The second event was the new beauty, who possessed beauty described as a perfection, at Heavenly Fragrance Garden. She declared that she was looking for the man of her life on the same day as the contest, in other words, on New Year's Eve. She attracted nobles and royalty to the brothel. Her appearance garnered praise from the masses. They depicted her as a woman with beauty that ascended the realms of human beauty. Her beauty reportedly could overthrow cities and ruin kingdoms. Her venerable name was Juese.
Note: I don’t like leaving notes in chapters anymore, but because it keeps getting asked after I answered it, and I bet it will be asked yet again, so I’ll repeat it. Yes, Jingan is Ming Feizhen’s wife as far as we know. It was revealed early in this volume. One of our readers (Patriarch NoTime) gave a very detailed breakdown of it; I re-posted it in the LCD for the series on NUF (Page 6) if you want to read the breakdown.
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