Blooming Lilies — I

The pale morning sun peeked out of the green mountains, its soft rays yet to be clad in the bright brilliance of the day. As a thin sheen of mist, of fog spread around the woods and the river running down the deep valley, blanketed the high mountain in its white splendour, the sheer haze of its beauty rendering normal eyes inadequate.

On top of one of the green mountains, surrounded by tall pine trees and the mist scattered around it, a humongous estate spilled across the peak, gurgling clear water of the river cutting through the thicket as deers sprang around it.

Multiple buildings spread around, surrounded by high walls, their trails drawn in a vast web confusing enough to make one — someone unfamiliar to the place — lose their way easily.

Splendid design of the city-esque establishment in the depths of the mountain did nothing to hide the tranquil energy that was somewhat plagued by tense consternation. Nor did the beauty of those buildings hide from anyone, rather the majestic arch of the gateway proudly supported the gold inlaid plaque hanging on it, displaying its importance and position.

In the gold inlaid plaque three words were engraved, personally bestowed upon the place by the imperial power.

"Divine Phoenix Hospital".

The legendary institution of medical professionals working under the capable tutelage of first of the four Divine doctors of the empire, the Divine Phoenix Li Jinhua.

The words of her abilities were spread far and wide, particularly her cultivation which allowed her to — more than once — resuscitate her patients deemed to be dead or beyond saving.

Though quite a few of her credits must be shared with her nephew, Li Xinyuan. He, too, was hailed as little Divine Phoenix amongst the people who knew more than normal people did. He followed in his aunt's footsteps as he embarked on the long and tedious but also enlightening journey of medical studies and healing people.

Li Xinyuan, however, unlike his powerful aunt specialised in surgeries, pioneering never before seen surgical methods, was also a known 'weakling' in the world of cultivators due to his sparse cultivation base mostly by the ignorant ones.

The said 'weakling' was, right now, however in the middle of obliterating and rejuvenating an entire forest as per his aunt's order.

Li Xinyuan collapsed to the ground, the slender sword digging in the dirt as he used it for support, resting his hand on the pommel as the blade held up his weight. His knee touched the forest floor as he gasped and panted, sweat trickling down his temples as the white robes clung to his body.

The morning sun fell on him, dousing his excessively beautiful face in warm light, lending his features a golden glow.

The high cheekbones, porcelain white skin, sharp chin and chiselled features adorned by thin lips of healthy pink colour. His sword brows complimented his beautiful golden phoenix eyes.

When Li Xinyuan was transmigrated into a mere child, his namesake, famously grown to be the 'most beautiful man' of the empire, he hadn't expected him to turn out to be actually handsome more than beautiful.

Not to mention that his face was almost exactly like his real one. With a few beauty filters — except in real life — give or take.

Li Xinyuan having died at the hands of terrorists was transmigrated into a book. And

Was the book the one he'd read? No.

Instead, the genius surgeon somehow ended up transmigrating into the popular spin-off of the book he had read. And that too in a character whose significance to the story was basically nothing.

Only his beauty was worth mentioning. Because the author had always described his beauty before anything else.

Why did it feel like he was on his way to becoming like one of those clichè cannon fodder protagonists?

Essentially, the character he'd transmigrated into was nothing but a useless flower vase, eye candy if you will, who happened to be from a powerful background, having famous but dead parents and an even more than that, a Divine Doctor aunt.

That alone made his status far above any normal nobility. Being the cherished nephew of the Divine Doctor made his weakness pale in comparison to all the benefits he could bring.

Standing up from the ground, Li Xinyuan took a deep breath and sheathed his sword, though having a sword was gratifying — having dreamt of possessing one as a child — he failed to see the point of owning once since he had decided to once again pursue the path of medicine and made it clear to his aunt.

He would have to admit, with some bitterness, that sword was not for him. It wasn't that he didn't like it. It was just that it didn't suit him as much as he had hoped for it to.

Something else must be made for him, Li Xinyuan decided, unilaterally and unwilling to concede his defeat. He just hadn't found it yet. Or perhaps this particular sword wasn't for him. He mulled over this as he walked under a tree, taking refuge in its shade as he awaited the arrival of his aunt.

Leaning back on the tree trunk, Li Xinyuan let out a sigh, feeling his bones creak slightly as he crossed his arms on his chest and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of nature quietly.

In his world, in his time in particular, hearing the sound of nature was very rare. Especially for him, a surgeon who never had much time to relax and was mostly on-call in the cities or flying around the world for surgeries.

In some aspects, his transmigration was a blessing since he was able to rest and live his life with a certain degree of freedom.

In other aspects, however, not so much. Li Xinyuan was somewhat displeased by the character he was possessing. Not only was this character the minorest of the minor characters, his mention could be found in the entire novel in just a few lines.

And those too were used just to describe his groundbreaking, heavenly beauty and to compare him to the female lead.

The only thing he was somewhat satisfied about was that even the female lead couldn't compare to him in terms of beauty. Or so that original text said.

Which was also the reason why immediately after his marriage — marriage, can you believe that? — to the crown prince, the original Li Xinyuan was delegated to the background as a vase.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache. A throbbing one at that.

Pressing his fingers on his temple, Li Xinyuan heaved a great sigh and slumped back, letting his hand drop as he licked his lips.

But hey, Li Xinyuan had never had a serious relationship in his life — never had the time to — except for a few hook-ups here and there with random men, so he wouldn't understand or know anything about being married.

The leaves of the tree above him rustled.

Li Xinyuan's ears pricked as he continued to keep his eyes closed. Someone was here.

"Please get up, Young Master," a voice called out from above him. "Divine Phoenix is coming your way."

Despite being aware of another person's presence, Li Xinyuan still flinched hard, eyes flying open as he turned to look at the tall and slender man behind him.

He would never be able to get used to this man sneaking up to him.

"Hú Lijīng," he said, in lieu of greeting. "What did I say about sneaking like this?"