Liu Qingyan was not a woman. She was a phenomenon.
That night, Xue Mu went to see the competition, not the "Flower Maiden" contest itself, but a prelude performance at the Dream Cloud Pavilion.
The venue was packed. Not just with lechers, but with poets, nobles, and even martial artists. The air was respectful, almost reverent.
When the curtain rose, there was no applause. Just a collective holding of breath.
A woman sat behind a guqin (zither). She wore white—simple, unadorned white. No jewelry. No heavy makeup. In a district of scarlet and gold, her purity was blinding.
She raised her hand. Her fingers were long, slender, like carved jade.
Twang.
The first note didn't just hit the ear; it hit the soul.
Xue Mu closed his eyes. The music wasn't just sound. It was an image. He saw a lonely mountain, a flowing river, a crane taking flight in the mist. It was cultivation infused into art.
The audience was entranced. Men wept silently. Others stared with rapt devotion.
This, Xue Mu thought, is a superstar.
She didn't use cheap tricks. She didn't use overt seduction. She conquered them with sheer, undeniable talent and an aura of untouchable grace.
As the song ended, the silence lingered for a long heartbeat before the applause exploded like thunder. Flowers rained down on the stage—expensive, spirit-infused flowers that cost a fortune.
Liu Qingyan stood and bowed slightly. Her expression was calm, distant. She looked at the cheering crowd not with arrogance, but with a profound loneliness.
"She is amazing," Yue Xiaochan whispered beside him. Even the little demoness was impressed. "Her cultivation is in her music. She is at the peak of the Shaping Realm."
"She is," Xue Mu agreed. "She is the perfect product."
"Product?" Yue Xiaochan frowned. "She is an artist."
"She is a brand," Xue Mu corrected. "The 'Fairy' brand. Pure. Untouchable. Tragically beautiful."
He watched Liu Qingyan leave the stage. "She is our target."
"You want to recruit her?" Yue Xiaochan laughed. "She is the jewel of the Dream Cloud Pavilion. They would fight a war before letting her go. And she is proud. She despises the Demonic Sects."
"I don't want to recruit her yet," Xue Mu said, his mind racing, calculating angles. "I want to beat her."
"Beat her?" Yue Xiaochan looked at him like he was crazy. "With who? Meng Lan? Meng Lan is good, but compared to Liu Qingyan, she is a firefly next to the moon."
"No," Xue Mu turned to the little girl. He looked her up and down, a strange gleam in his eyes.
Yue Xiaochan took a step back, covering her chest. "What are you looking at? I warned you, I'll gouge your eyes out!"
"You," Xue Mu said. "You are the answer."
"Me?"
"Liu Qingyan sells 'Sorrow' and 'Purity'. The market for that is saturated. We can't beat her at her own game."
Xue Mu grinned. "So we create a new game. We don't sell sorrow. We sell Joy. We sell Youth. We sell Energy."
He framed Yue Xiaochan's face with his hands (ignoring her attempt to bite him).
"The world is grim. People are tired of crying over sad zither music. They want to smile. They want to dance."
"Yue Xiaochan," Xue Mu declared, "You are going to be the world's first Pop Idol."