Ling Guang took Iris’s jade-like hand, placed it in her own palm, looked into her eyes, and said, “Iris, can I give you a new name? You’re my daughter now, after all. If you don’t agree, Mom will keep calling you Iris. Change it or not, it’s your choice. Mom will respect whatever you decide.”

“Change it!” Iris said firmly.

You could imagine just how deep the scars from her old family went. The moment Ling Guang mentioned changing her name, she agreed without a second of hesitation.

“Alright, let Mom think of something.” Ling Guang rubbed her forehead, thinking. Suddenly her gaze sharpened. She looked up at Iris and said, “Since you’re a blood-sucking princess, why don’t we call you Ling Ji?”

“Ling Ji…?” Iris repeated. Her brows creased; she clearly wasn’t that happy. The name didn’t sound very elegant to her, and she felt a little resistant inside.

Ling Guang flicked Ling Ji’s forehead lightly. “It’s Ling Ji. What kind of dirty stuff is running around that little head of yours all day?”

“Sorry, sorry, your daughter took it the wrong way.” Ling Ji quickly bowed her head and admitted fault, muttering inwardly, What’s wrong with me? How did my brain jump straight to that filth? It’s all Auntie’s fault, always stuffing my head with weird ‘knowledge’.

“Since you’ve got your sight back, Ling Ji, Mom will take you to see the scenery of the Cloud Palace.” As she spoke, Ling Guang took Ling Ji’s hand and led her out of the bedchamber.

The Cloud Palace was divided into four palaces: east, west, south, and north. Each had a different layout. The East Palace especially—where your aunt lives—was set with a complex Qimen Trap. One careless misstep there meant death.

“Auntie’s way over the top. Who makes her own place into a giant trap?” Ling Ji couldn’t help complaining.

“Hehe.” Ling Guang let out a soft laugh. “That’s just Meng Zhang. He fiddles with strange things all day and turned his palace into some unfathomable mystery.”

“What about the West Palace?” Ling Ji asked curiously.

Ling Guang thought for a moment, then said, “Jian Bing loves fighting and killing. The West Palace holds a bunch of Evilness. To satisfy his urge to slaughter, he’ll kill them off one by one. You’re forbidden from going there. Any random Evilness in that place could kill you.”

“Oh…” Ling Ji nodded obediently. “Then what about Uncle Zhi Ming’s North Palace?”

“You can’t get into the North Palace. There are no Evilness or Qimen Traps there, but it’s at the bottom of the sea. Can you dive to the seafloor?” Ling Guang looked at her daughter, smiling.

“That…” Ling Ji was at a loss for words. It was true—the sea was terrifyingly deep, far beyond her reach.

Ling Guang patted Ling Ji’s head. “The landscape in our South Palace is beautiful, the lakes are lovely. Want to go play?”

“I’ll listen to Mom.” Ling Ji nodded.

Ling Guang brought Ling Ji to Phoenix Lake. The water was a deep, clear blue. Sunlight poured down on the surface, scattering into sparkling waves. Schools of fish swam and darted through the water, the scene breathtakingly beautiful.

Holding Ling Ji’s small hand, Ling Guang led her to a stone bench by the lake and sat down. With a wave of her hand, the lake roiled. A plume of white mist rose and instantly shaped itself into a phoenix bird. It perched in the middle of the lake, circling over the surface again and again.

“It’s so pretty!” Ling Ji gasped, staring straight at the phoenix.

Ling Guang clapped her hands. The phoenix split into two, then two into four… until it became ninety-nine phoenix birds. They circled around Ling Guang and Ling Ji, filling the air with a stunning, living painting.

Ling Ji was completely dazed. She had never seen anything like it. Her heart was full of awe, and she didn’t even know what words to use.

Ling Guang smiled slightly. “Do you like it?”

“I do. It’s really incredible.” Ling Ji brushed her fingers lightly over her own cheek, full of wonder.

“The mountains and rivers of my South Palace are naturally extraordinary.” Ling Guang said, a little pleased with herself.

She walked with her daughter along the lakeshore. A stone path led from the lake up to the mountaintop, winding and twisting like a bridge, beautifully set against the scenery.

They followed the stone path to the top. Up there, the trees were lush, flowers bloomed in clusters, and a giant white crane was gliding through the sky. Every now and then it flapped its wings, sending waves of fragrance from the flowers drifting through the air.

With the crane’s clear cry, the birds all around took flight, each one showing off its graceful form in the sky.

Crisp birdsong and a distant flute melody echoed over the mountaintop, like an immortal realm come to life.

Ling Ji was so stunned she couldn’t recover for a long time. She had never imagined such beauty could exist in this world, the kind that made you want to lose yourself in it.

It all felt like a dream, so beautiful it seemed unreal.

“Mom… are we inside a dream right now?” Ling Ji tilted her head up, gazing at the white crane soaring above, her voice a little bewildered.

“Of course it’s a dream. You can let yourself go as much as you want.” Ling Guang smiled gently, rubbing Ling Ji’s soft long hair.

Ling Ji took a step forward and stood at the highest point of the mountaintop. For a moment, she had the feeling of standing above all peaks, looking down on every mountain.

She slowly spread her arms, facing the cool breeze. Her skirt billowed, her sleeves danced wildly in the wind. Her silver hair lashed about behind her.

In that instant, a surge of uncontrollable emotion rose in Ling Ji’s chest. She wanted to scream, to roar, to pour out all the feelings that had been suppressed there for so long.

“Ah!!”

Ling Ji threw back her head and howled at the sky. Her silver hair whipped madly behind her as she shouted, finally finding an outlet for all that pent-up pressure.

“Ah… ahhh—!”

Her heart was flooded with excitement and exhilaration she couldn’t hold back, as if chains were shattering and she’d finally spread her wings, flying free among blue skies and white clouds.

Ling Guang just stood quietly to the side, watching this girl screaming her heart out in the wind.

A relieved smile tugged at her lips. This Ling Ji, like this, was the most beautiful, the most genuine she had ever been—and the daughter she loved the most.

She didn’t know how long had passed before Ling Ji finally tired herself out and her mood slowly calmed.

Then Ling Ji suddenly leapt from the mountaintop. Seeing this, Ling Guang’s heart lurched. “Ling Ji!” She rushed to the edge of the cliff to look down.

She saw Ling Ji spread her bat wings wide, shooting up from below the cliff into the sky. After circling twice in midair, she sped toward the horizon.

Seeing that, Ling Guang finally let out a breath. For a second she’d thought Ling Ji couldn’t take it anymore and had jumped off the cliff to die.

Ling Ji looked back at Ling Guang standing on the peak. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, and she waved at her, smiling.

Ling Guang looked at her daughter’s smile, and her own lips curved as she nodded back.

“What a mischievous girl,” Ling Guang said with a soft sigh.

Ling Ji soared through the air, looking down over the world beneath her. In this vast heaven and earth, she felt an endless comfort and freedom. She stretched out her slender fingers and swept them through the air, sending ripples spreading out around her.

She closed her eyes, savoring the wind brushing against her face. The whole world felt unreal, everything hazy and distant, like a dream—but a dream of perfect beauty.

This was the life she had always longed for. Only… who could say how long it would last?

Just then, a violent gust of wind howled in, breaking her rhythm. On top of that, she’d only just learned to fly. There was no way she could handle a gale like this. The wind tossed her around, and she dropped from the sky in a steep fall.

Seeing Ling Ji blown down by the storm, Ling Guang was scared out of her wits.

She stomped hard on the cliff edge and launched herself into the air. Golden-red wings snapped open behind her as she darted toward Ling Ji.

After flying a short distance, she suddenly cut in below her and caught Ling Ji steadily in her arms.

Holding Ling Ji in a princess carry, Ling Guang gently patted her back, her face soft and kind. “Ling Ji, do you still want to play?”

“Yeah.” Ling Ji lifted her head to look at Ling Guang’s face.

“I’ll play with you, alright?” Ling Guang smiled.

“Mm!” Ling Ji nodded hard. She wrapped her arms around Ling Guang’s neck and nestled into her embrace, soaking in that brief warmth and peace.

Ling Guang lowered her eyes to Ling Ji’s profile, and a faint smile tugged at her lips.

Cradling Ling Ji, she flew through the sky. If they could just keep flying like this forever, how wonderful that would be. Ling Ji couldn’t help longing for it—wishing this feeling would never fade.

After a while, Ling Guang took her daughter up into the clouds. The sight within the clouds was even more spectacular. The masses of cloud were twisted by the wind, drifting and swirling in strange shapes.

“Mom, look, that cloud looks just like us right now.” Ling Ji pointed into the distance, speaking to Ling Guang.

Following her finger, Ling Guang looked over and saw that the distant cloud really did look like a blooming lotus, swaying gracefully in the wind.

She nodded slightly. “It does.”

Ling Ji’s gaze turned a little unfocused. For a second, she seemed to see a snake woman whipping a little horned loli.

She shook her head, and the image vanished.

…

No one knew how long Ling Guang and Ling Ji kept playing, until Ling Ji got so sleepy she dozed off in Ling Guang’s arms. Only then did Ling Guang finally stop flying.

She laid Ling Ji down on the bed, pulled the quilt over her, and then slipped out of the room without a sound.