Ivy Shen never imagined that Lark City would have a plaza this huge—it honestly felt like she’d wandered into the site of a celebrity concert.
This place even had a super flashy name: ‘One Song to Shake the World!’
Inside, it was split into three layers—the topmost was the stage, with a massive bench up there that had to be for the judge. Below the stage was a big open space for the audience, and on the left was a wide walkway where, rumor had it, the contestants waited their turn.
Right now, the place was packed with people—most of them were here just to witness the birth of this year’s Song King.
Honestly, nobody cared much about the actual competition. The real reason was that the mistress of Lark City, Yvonne Li, was totally obsessed with listening to music—and her biggest flex was making the legendary Peach Immortal Elixir. Supposedly, it’s insanely hard to brew, and she only manages one bottle a year. She keeps it super secret, so if you want a shot at it, you have to win the contest.
Everyone who wants the elixir just wants to get into Poison Peach Valley. Each year, when the peach trees bloom, Master Xuanluo meets up with a few old friends inside and they drink a few jars of fine wine—it’s a tradition that never changes. Anyone who survives to the end and meets Master Xuanluo gets the luck of a lifetime: he’ll give you personal guidance.
But unfortunately, over the past ten-plus years, countless people have died trying to break into Poison Peach Valley.
Poison Peach Valley—as the name says, it’s a toxic peach forest. You have to drink a tiny sip of Peach Immortal Elixir to avoid getting poisoned by the peach blossom fumes.
But even if you make it past the first hurdle, there’s no guarantee you’ll reach him. The whole place is rigged with Five Elements and Eight Trigrams—ten stages from start to finish, and these freaky challenges have killed way too many people.
Still, no matter what, people with all kinds of wild dreams keep trying to get in.
There have been a few lucky ones in the past decade—like Gideon Gu, now the richest man in Jiangnan. When he first entered Poison Peach Valley, he was just a beggar with barely any skills, but thanks to his smarts, he made it to the end. After that, his whole life flipped upside down.
Listening to Night Qingqing, Ivy Shen couldn’t help glancing at Night Qingcheng and Li Yaomei. What exactly were these two plotting to gain from meeting him?! Ivy’s feelings were complicated—everyone who wanted in had an agenda, a dream, an ambition. Seriously, who’d risk their life instead of just living peacefully?
“The City Mistress is here——!” Suddenly, a super loud shout snapped Ivy Shen out of her thoughts.
A flamboyant woman sashayed onto the stage, her curvy body supported by two men as she made her entrance nice and slow.
“So gross. She’s pushing forty and still keeps all these boy toys?” Night Qingqing muttered in disgust.
Hearing that, Ivy Shen peeked over—wait, the two guys beside her, plus a dozen more behind, were all her boy toys? Dang, that’s some serious power move!
Yvonne Li settled into her seat with help from her boy toys, who instantly started peeling fruit and pouring her drinks, falling over themselves to please her.
*****Excitement overload*****
PS: To ‘Randomly At Ease’—your fifty flowers have me totally flustered! And to our first ‘Divine Pen’ reader—so excited! Thank you all for the support, three chapters, three chapters, coming right up~ Love you guys!