Late spring winds carried clusters of willow catkins, sending them tumbling like cotton fluff through the carved wooden lattice windows to swirl inside the room. One catkin landed lightly in Shen Mingyue’s hair, but she was too distracted to notice. She sat curled before her vanity, the bronze mirror reflecting the dark, ink-like smudges beneath her eyes.
The medicinal decoction in her bowl had gone cold, a thin film of oil floating on its surface; the steam had long since vanished, leaving only tiny water droplets on the mirror’s surface, which traced winding paths down the engraved phoenix patterns, mirroring her own turbulent state of mind. Her fingertips unconsciously traced the raised patterns on the edge of the bronze mirror, and the icy touch made her shiver. Suddenly, the surface of the mirror rippled, and her clear reflection distorted into the gruesome visage of the First Generation Evil Lord, foul black blood dripping from his fangs.
The drops struck the mirror with a teeth-gritting hiss of corrosion. "No..." Shen Mingyue stumbled backward, slamming her lower back against the edge of the vanity table and gasping in pain.
Chapter 44