In the icy northern realm, more precisely in one of the best houses in the city, Jiang Weiyan was preparing to go out again despite the icy wind that was blowing at that moment. She was already bundled up as she sighed again with visible annoyance on her face.

If it weren't for her family's financial decline, with her aunt being the overseer of some Northland locations like the commented Cloud Garden among the servants, she wouldn't be being forced to work like all the adult members of her family.

After all, they needed to work for their livelihood and their parents were adamantly against leaning on some people and not working. They were healthy and proud of still working in administration services and in a small commercial establishment that belonged to the family.

Furthermore, under Chang Yi's reign, the small settlement was prospering thanks to the northern rules and development plans implemented by the merman. All saw the North flourish under his stewardship and were grateful.

The flourishing was not only limited to the financial and administrative sector, there was also security that was enhanced with strict rules and considerably heavy punishments, but which guaranteed the much needed order considering the daily exodus of people, demons and even demon masters. who disinherited from their places of origin and who managed to deal with the frost curse by virtue of Kongming having developed a medicine to deal with the poisoning and that it was provided free to the masters of demons.

All this made them flourish and the family slowly recovered from the financial decline caused by some unscrupulous family members who had dragged the family down.

Even with this financial freshness and gradual but slow recovery, Jiang Weiyan still needed to work in the eyes of her family and her aunt had found a job for her, which consisted of taking care of the sick "mistress" of Beijing-Zunzhu (Beijing– northern kingdom and Zunzhu – Lord or master, indicating high status) Chang Yi when carrying food to the Garden of Clouds.

She was mistress in name only to them because she and the other servants never saw the merman near her.

Even in the mouth of many she was just a very sick woman forgotten by the jiaoren in a remote place because she was far from the capital, in addition to being kept locked up on the third floor as if she were a prisoner. Upon entering, she had to lock the door and then open it to leave, not forgetting to lock it behind her.

Furthermore, the door was protected by a merman's demonic magic barrier. She was able to pass through the barrier thanks to an object. The act of locking up was just a way in and out through the barrier.

However, all surrounding traffic was blocked and only authorized people and demons could travel. It was more of a prison than anything else and the level of security was way above the prison that existed in the Northlands. A house arrest and therefore, many wondered if the sick "mistress" committed any crime to be kept confined because even though she was sick, the fact that there was a clear requirement to keep her locked up could only be applied to prisoners.

"Damn it! While many can stay in their homes, I have to go out to bring her food because I'm the only one allowed in except for the maids who take care of the cleaning. I agree with the rumors that she's a criminal or something. like this." she muttered to herself as she finished adjusting her clothes to face the cold winds that were blowing at that moment.

As he finished adjusting his thick gloves because at that moment, a particularly icy wind made the temperature drop even more, Jiang Weiyan displays confusion on his face as he watches his aunt, Jielu Weiyan approaching her with some papers in his hands while showing a face seriousness and a look that displayed the purest censure.

"Do you want to say something?" her aunt asks with a serious face as she stands in front of her niece.

"What happened aunt? What do you mean, "say something"?"

"As you know, as an administrator, in addition to running the place, I receive reports from the Cloud Garden on a daily basis, and among them, there were some reports from the servants who worked there. They reported that they heard you arguing with the sick mistress of Beijing- Zunzhu. Is it true?"

"Yes. I tell her to close the window and she refuses to listen. Not that I care about her, but if the woman gets sick I'll have to take care of her. I tell her to sit down and eat. refuses to do that. Who does she think she is? I never saw the honorable Zhushang (lord or lord as well as supreme ruler or emperor) step there. Besides, according to the servants, they never saw the jiaoren step there. In fact, I think that she is a criminal. She may have been his mistress at some point because she is referred to that way, but, she must be serving some penalty. That is more like a maximum security prison. I don't think even the prison we have is so heavily blocked by a magical barrier as powerful as the one that surrounds the third floor."

The woman massages her forehead and sighs. Her niece's words and clear anger towards the woman confirmed the various reports that came into her hands as she questioned herself why she hadn't caught the problem sooner.

She was unaware of the fact that originally, she wouldn't pay due attention to those roles, causing certain events to occur as a result of it.

Due to an unexpected intervention, Jielu Weiyan ended up reading the reports and detected the problem involving a member of her family. Nevertheless, she still received help and as much as she knew the reason for applying such a technique on her niece, it didn't change the fact that she found the method a little extreme.

Therefore, before applying this method, the aunt decides to try to talk to her.

Then, after sighing deeply, the older woman spoke coldly while showing a reproachful countenance to the young girl, causing her to flinch, "I got you another assignment. Today will be the last time you deliver food to her. Today, you're going to keep your mouth shut, putting the food in and then leaving. Got it?" the aunt hoped that she would not have to use the method proposed by that woman.

"But..."

"Understand? Go silent and leave silently."

"But, she's just a prisoner. We've never seen Zhushang set foot there."

"It doesn't matter what she is. What matters is following orders and I can see you're having trouble with her."

"That bastard keeps teasing me."

"It doesn't matter. Shut up."

"But..."

She sighs sadly because she realizes she had no choice and starts fiddling inside the long sleeve of her clothes.

The niece's eyes widened when she saw her put a golden necklace around her neck that shone strangely, as she saw it in a mirror in the hall, the necklace gradually losing its shine and when she went to question what the object was, she was shocked to see realizing that was sealed whenever she tried to say something, making her look at her aunt in horror.

"I got this object and only I can take it. Now, I don't have to worry about you arguing with that woman. Besides, you won't be able to fight or make violent moves against her. After you come back, I'll take it out. Now, go."

Seeing her aunt's implacable face, the woman sighs and nods, leaving the room while questioning where she got such a frightening object.

Then, the sound of knocking sounds on the door that Jiang had left a few minutes ago, causing Jielu to open the door by mistakenly judging that it was her niece returning because she forgot something while feeling guilty for using such a tactic against her even though she had not. had no other choice.

After all, she had an excellent job and the family was restructuring financially and socially.

Therefore, she couldn't allow an arrogant member to jeopardize everything. Whether the woman imprisoned in the Garden of Clouds was a prisoner or a mistress did not matter. It was not her job to question or discuss the intentions of her superiors. Her role was merely to supervise and administer as she unquestioningly followed orders that were clear and precise.

Furthermore, if the woman was indeed the lover of the mighty jiaoren, the consequences could be disastrous if she was injured by his niece who knew martial arts, and even if she was not harmed, it was an indisputable fact how much the Emperor of the North cherished rules. and the laws. Not following them or breaking them led to several consequences, making her fear that her family would end up involved because of a single person.

Upon opening the door, he sees a woman who displayed an elegant bearing, with her onyx hair tied in an elaborate hairstyle while wearing beautiful garments. The eyes as black as the darkest night observe the surroundings attentively before settling on the resident.

She greets the other woman who asks after inviting her in, "That object..."

"Some problem?"

"It's quite effective. What power did you use?"

"Spirit power. Don't worry. It's non-demonic and it's one-time use."

"Are you a demon master?"

"No. A diligent studious with a hidden pulse. I had a shifu who taught me everything I needed to know. After finishing my apprenticeship, I wandered the world in search of improvement. After several years of study, I decided to quiet down a bit."

"I see. I'm still surprised I trusted you so easily."

"Maybe it's your sixth sense or something. If it weren't for my suggestion to check the reports, you could suffer consequences for not properly overseeing the situation involving your niece."

"True. I owe you. I wouldn't have seen it if not for your suggestion."

"The important thing is that you managed to prevent a possible short-term problem considering what you told me about her temper. Regarding my request, do you have a decision?"

She sighs and says resignedly, "Yes. I'll assign you to the Cloud Garden. You'll take up my niece's job.'

"Thank you very much."

"Know that it might be considered inferior work by the standards of your dress, plus the fact that I'm still trying to understand why I assigned someone I've recently met."

"The supervisor above you agreed."

"True. He agreed and was allowed. Still..."

The newly arrived woman makes some discreet movements with her fingers and the eyes of the woman in front of her momentarily go out of focus and then return to a relieved face at the same time in which the distrust of the past had suddenly disappeared, with the woman in front of her. onyx hair being surprised to see how easy it was to manipulate them because she managed to do it easily with Jielu Weiyan and her supervisor.

Of course, she didn't need to do all that because there was an easier method, but even in light of her plans, she wanted to challenge herself.

"You will start tomorrow, Song Wu."

Then the supervisor tells her what she would have to do and the rules, with the woman agreeing.

"I appreciate the opportunity."

They talked some more as Song Wu used the power in his voice to suggest the other, reinforcing her hold on her.

After finishing, he says goodbye and leaves the house, later looking at the heavens while commenting to himself, "It was so easy. Indeed, there are no great challenges in this world."

Then she walks away, disappearing into the icy wind that was blowing fiercely at that moment, it being impossible to know how many would be buried by the howling blizzard that night.

In this timeline, Song Wu began to intervene in events. One of them was getting Jiang Weiyan not to argue with Jin Yunhe and consequently not try to attack her as it was in the original timeline that caused Chang Yi's anger, who threw her out the window, causing her to fall into a frozen lake, with this act starting the repercussions of other events.

In the Cloud Garden, more precisely on the third floor of the residence, Jiang just puts the food on the table while Yunhe arched his brow because he was waiting for the woman to act like the other days, moody and rambling because she ignored requests in the form of an order of the new maid.

However, to her dismay, Jiang just remained silent, not giving her a single glance, then locked the door behind him.

While questioning himself the reason for this behavior so different from the other days, Chang Yi appears as he always did, aiming to supervise their meals, as well as bringing the medicine that an imperial doctor had prescribed.

That night, the lines and events occur as they normally would with the exception of the lines about an event that in that timeline did not occur.

Meanwhile, a shadow watched the construction located in the Garden of Clouds while holding a scroll in her hands whose writings appeared on the surface as she read everything that happened inside.

The woman was Song Wu, and she confessed that she imagined that this was how the scroll behaved despite the fact that it was a copy that she had in her hands and that it took her a few decades of cultivation at the same time that she felt lucky that the person responsible for the record of the fate of mortals, demons, and immortals being weak to drink to the point of falling asleep without much effort.

The problem was managing to give her the drink, with her boasting about having made some sweets with alcohol while using a magical technique to nullify the smell of alcohol, justifying the bitterness as part of the recipe. This deity loved sweets and a long time ago had promised him sweets, with her not imagining that such a debt would ever come in handy.

While the person in charge slept, the woman copied the scrolls she wanted and the one in her hands was just one of them. There were others and among them, there was one in particular and when thinking about that scroll, she is taken by immeasurable pain and sadness, in addition to an immense and unprecedented anger.

"Song Wu..." the voice comes out in a sigh of pain and sadness as closes when she remembers the one who had the same name as her despite the characters having a different meaning from hers.