The young lady, dressed in Huaxia’s traditional gown and possessing an unmatched, exquisite beauty, slowly stepped out, resembling a fairy descending from the heavens or a peerless beauty stepping out of an ancient painting. In antiquity, there were the four great beauties: Xi Shi, Diao Chan, Wang Zhaojun, and Yang Yuhuan, whose beauty was said to make fish sink and geese fall, their looks could eclipse the moon and shame flowers.

The young lady before them, akin to a fairy, seemed largely like this.

Lin Fan was stunned as he asked, "Who is this?"

Was there truly such a great beauty hidden within the Yun Clan?

But perhaps this wasn’t surprising, for Lin Fan noticed upon his arrival at the Yun Clan, that most of the young women were veiled, their faces hidden. Beneath these veils, whether it be beauty or ugliness remained unknown, even if there was a peerless beauty, Lin Fan would have been none the wiser.

Under the gaze of everyone, the elegantly beautiful young lady approached, arriving before Lin Fan, who was already in shock, taking a cup of wine from the side.

"I toast you with this cup, thank you for saving our Yun Clan," the elegant young lady smiled softly, and this gentle smile was akin to a spring breeze, too beautiful to behold.

"Yun Qingyao?"

Lin Fan responded in surprise. Actually, he had already recognized her earlier but found it hard to believe, as he had never seen Yun Qingyao’s face before, everything matched except the face.

After all, Lin Fan had always thought Yun Qingyao veiled her face due to ugliness; he even felt somewhat disdainful of her throughout their journey because of this supposed ugliness. Last night, when Yun Qingyao was injured, Lin Fan carried her back, albeit rather unwillingly.

To think Yun Qingyao was so beautiful? No, one couldn’t simply describe Yun Qingyao using ’beautiful,’ she was a fairy. The Huaxia people frequently had fantasies about fairies, and Yun Qingyao certainly fulfilled most people’s imaginations of a fairy.

If the full score for beauty was ten, Yun Qingyao could directly score twelve because her beauty transcended the realm of mortals.

This Ten Thousand Mountains, with its scorching sunlight, often had Yun Sect people engaged in harsh martial training, constantly exposed to the elements, resulting in Yun Sect members typically having dark skin, a healthy bronze tone, regardless of gender.

Bronze skin is also a form of beauty, and at times had been considered a high aesthetic standard, yet a beauty with bronze skin, no matter how lovely, does not align with the Huaxia people’s traditional aesthetic.

Huaxia people predominantly consider fair skin as beautiful.

Amongst the sea of bronze skin, Yun Qingyao stood out with her snow-white complexion, skin like soft jade, bright eyes and teeth like pearls; just her skin alone made her exceptionally prominent.

Before seeing Yun Qingyao’s face, Lin Fan had already highly praised her figure and skin; Yun Qingyao gave him the impression that apart from the face, everything else was perfect.

However, determining whether a woman is a beauty ultimately depends on the face, so even with all other features scoring full marks, Lin Fan remained unaffected as he thought Yun Qingyao might have Zhong Wuyan’s face.

According to Lin Fan’s previous speculation, Yun Qingyao veiled her face either due to ugliness or facial injuries, possibly burns, scalds, or scars of some kind.

Until this moment, upon seeing Yun Qingyao’s face, Lin Fan completely changed his mind, his heart unintentionally speeding up.

Yun Qingyao’s face bore no scars, simply flawless.

Lin Fan was a normal man, having such an exquisite fairy standing before him made it difficult to remain unaffected.

At this point, Yun Qingyao downed the cup of wine in her hand, though seemingly having a low tolerance, coughed lightly twice from the alcohol, and a rosy hue appeared on her face.

This made her even more alluring, with a pinkish face, almost impossible to resist.

Lin Fan had to calm his emotions briefly, raising his glass to empty it as well.

All around them, people watched this scene and smiled knowingly, giving off a teasing auntly smile.

Lin Fan quickly noticed, feeling curious about the peculiar smiles on their faces, suspecting something was off. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

After toasting, Yun Qingyao glanced at Lin Fan, seemingly a bit shy, before nervously walking away to sit beside her master Yun Zhongzheng.

Lin Fan couldn’t help but follow her with his eyes, unable to get enough of her stunning face.

Had he known Yun Qingyao was so beautiful earlier, their journey to the Yun Sect would have certainly been a different spectacle.

Lin Fan wasn’t the kind who couldn’t move his legs upon seeing a beauty; rather, having met many beauties, he handled their presence with ease. Beauties like Wei Yue’er, Wei Qingxue, Su Jinjin, and Chen Lingling were all top-tier, yet Lin Fan had never appeared so flustered, adeptly navigating through a field of flowers.

For the first time, Lin Fan found himself slightly unsettled because of a mere face.

Primarily, because Yun Qingyao was truly incredibly beautiful, and secondly, because of a sense of disparity—having believed Yun Qingyao was ugly, experiencing such a massive gap with reality, leaving Lin Fan momentarily overwhelmed.

Fortunately, Lin Fan wasn’t ordinary, so he soon readjusted his mindset and regained composure.

At this moment, due to Yun Qingyao’s arrival, after a brief silence, everyone resumed singing and dancing, the festive atmosphere continued.

Yun Xiaoqi approached, smiling, "Brother Lin, congratulations, congratulations."

This bewildering statement left Lin Fan puzzled, "Congratulations for what?"

Yun Xiaoqi revealed the same auntly smile seen earlier, "Brother Lin, you aren’t aware, are you? In our Yun Clan, there’s a rule that unmarried women over sixteen must veil their faces, especially not let men outside the clan see them; it’s a taboo."

When the Yun Clan migrated from the Central Plains to the mountains, preserving ancient customs, some odd traditions emerged. In ancient times, girls were considered marriageable at fourteen, reaching adulthood. Today, influenced by modern trends, Yun Clan has raised this to sixteen; at sixteen, they can marry.

This isn’t unusual; the oddity lies in the veiling custom. Unmarried women over sixteen must veil their faces when external men are present, the rule primarily concerns external male presence requiring face covering.

Hence, Yun Qingyao veiled her face in external settings, not due to ugliness or facial scars but because of the Yun Clan’s tradition!

This rule insisted Yun Qingyao feared revealing her face when Lin Fan controlled her, prioritizing not violating the clan’s rule to the point preferring death over having Lin Fan see her face.

Upon hearing this strange rule, Lin Fan felt even more bewildered, "Hmm, I’m still not clear on what you mean by congratulations?"

Yun Xiaoqi laughed heartily, "Because our Yun Clan’s rule further states, unmarried women must veil their faces towards external men until they meet a man they admire, then they can reveal themselves."