A moment later, she found herself standing in front of a room occupied by an outer sect disciple. Following the local customs, she had chosen not to have her maidservants attend to her directly but instead arranged for them to stay in the area where the outer sect disciples lived, practicing alongside the disciples of the Tianjian Sect.

Shui Miaomiao noticed the door was unlocked and pushed it open.

Inside, she saw her three maidservants huddled together, seemingly engrossed in something.

“What are you looking at? Did you manage to buy a liuyingqi (留影器, a device for capturing images)?”

Shui Miaomiao walked over, only to see one of the maidservants jump up in panic, hastily hiding something behind her back.

“Y-your Highness!”

“What do you have in your hand?” Shui Miaomiao frowned. “Show me!”

“It's…”

The maidservant dared not disobey. With her head bowed in fear, she handed over a book with the words "Chunqiu" (春秋, a historical text) written on it.

Shui Miaomiao flipped through a couple of pages, her eyes widening in shock for a few seconds before she quickly stuffed the book into her storage bag. “Cough! This is the Tianjian Sect! What kind of decorum is it to read such a book here? If someone finds out you’re looking at this, what will others think of us? Confiscated!”

“Yes, I won’t do it again,” the maidservant nodded vigorously.

After dealing with the confiscated book, Shui Miaomiao turned to the matter at hand. “By the way, where’s the liuyingqi? Did you get it?”

“We did!” another maidservant quickly produced the liuyingqi. “There were so many buyers that they limited each person to one, so we only managed to get three.”

---

Chapter 140: Why Can’t You Go Astray?

Shui Miaomiao took one of the liuyingqi. It was different from the sample she had seen before; this one was much more aesthetically pleasing.

The casing was a milky white, with rounded corners, and a golden dragon motif in the lower right corner added a touch of elegance.

“Not bad, I really like this one.” She nodded in satisfaction, tucking the other two away as well. “Alright, you all should rest now. I’ll head back.”

With that, she hurriedly left.

Once Shui Miaomiao was gone, the maidservant who had been hiding the book let out a sigh of relief, patting her chest. “That scared me! I thought I was done for.”

Another maidservant, who had been with Shui Miaomiao for a while, comforted her with a smile. “It’s fine. The princess is a good person. The worst she would do is confiscate it.”

“Yeah, remember when Xiao Jin was caught reading in the corner? The princess just took the book away,” another chimed in, nodding in agreement.

“Don’t bring that up!” The first maidservant shot a glare at her. “I was younger back then! I couldn’t help myself when I got my hands on a new book. I wouldn’t do that now!”

The first maidservant raised an eyebrow. “But didn’t we just get something confiscated again?”

Xiao Jin: “…”

Who could have guessed the princess would barge into our room? Besides, "Chunqiu" isn’t even that kind of book; it just has a few scantily clad women, and there aren’t even any scenes of men and women embracing.

“Alright, alright, we can buy more later. I’m really interested in the little comics at the back of "Chunqiu." The artwork may not be as refined as the earlier parts, but the little stories are quite entertaining. Next time, let’s prioritize the versions with comics.”

As the maidservants discussed "Chunqiu," Shui Miaomiao had already returned to her room.

She glanced around, then pulled the curtains shut before sitting on her bed, eagerly flipping through the confiscated "Chunqiu."

“Wow, what amazing artwork! How can the Northern Region have such superior books compared to the Eastern Continent?”

As she flipped through the pages, she couldn’t help but exclaim—this shading, this exquisite anatomy, it completely outclassed what she had seen from the little emperor before.

Compared to "Chunqiu," everything else she had read seemed like trash!

However, as she continued flipping, confusion crept onto her face—why were all the women dressed so scantily? Why weren’t there any images of men and women embracing?

It wasn’t until she reached the last page, where the romantic comic showed the male and female leads expressing their feelings and embracing, that despair washed over her—this wasn’t the kind of embrace she was hoping for!

Why?

You’ve drawn it so suggestively; why can’t you take it a step further? Why can’t you go astray?

Shui Miaomiao leaned back on her bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

She pondered how to find the author of this book and how to persuade him to draw scenes of men and women embracing.

Such suggestive art wasted on such mild content was a crime!

“Sigh, really! Teasing someone’s heart but refusing to go further.”

Shui Miaomiao lifted the book with a sigh.

The main issue was that after seeing such exquisite artwork, she couldn’t bear to look at the garish styles in other books anymore.

“Damn it!”

Shui Miaomiao let out a frustrated roar, but then she pulled out some of her previously collected books from her storage bag.

Fortunately, she still had quite a few literary works that were bearable to read!

“Wait!” Suddenly, Shui Miaomiao realized something and quickly tossed the book aside. “I’ve made up my mind not to look at such things anymore. I must resist!”

With a determined expression, she fixed her gaze on the ceiling.

A few minutes later, her hand stealthily reached for the book she had just thrown aside. By the time she realized it, her hand had already flipped to the first page.

“Hmm… I’ve held out for three days, so I’ll just reward myself by reading a few pages today.” She muttered to herself, her eyes uncontrollably glued to the text. “And it’s all Chunqiu’s fault! If it weren’t for Chunqiu, I wouldn’t be looking at this kind of stuff. So, it’s all Chunqiu’s responsibility!”

---

“Little Junior Brother, I have good news!” Yu Yao knocked excitedly on Bai Feng’s door. “Open up!”

“Senior Sister, haven’t you been coming around a bit too often lately?” Bai Feng opened the door with a hint of exasperation. “What’s the news this time?”

“The liuyingqi is sold out!!” Yu Yao exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “I splurged on some top-quality spirit beast meat and invited Yu Mo to celebrate!”

‘It’s just a camera, and it’s that popular?’

Bai Feng was taken aback, unable to suppress his thoughts.

But then he reconsidered; this world already had liuying stones, and many people bought a few to carry with them, so there was already a market for it.

Although the liuyingqi was much more expensive than the liuying stones, it offered more complete and convenient functions, perfectly filling the gap left by the liuying stones.

Plus, Yu Yao had specially designed a beautiful casing, combined with advertising and celebrity endorsements (referring to Bai Feng asking Gu Yueqing for help), it wasn’t surprising that the liuyingqi sold out.

“Alright, let’s celebrate tonight!” Bai Feng nodded. Since Yu Yao was treating, he just needed to tag along for the meal. “I’ll go get Yu Mo.”

“I’ll come with you!”

With that, the two headed next door.

Since Bai Yumo had recently made breakthroughs in her swordsmanship, Chu Ningyan suggested she first advance to the late Golden Core stage and then continue refining her sword techniques. So, she had been practicing at home during the day.

Just as Bai Feng knocked on her door, Yu Yao tugged at his sleeve. “Isn’t that the princess from the Eastern Continent? She really has dragon horns!”

He instinctively looked in the direction Yu Yao was pointing and saw Shui Miaomiao walking towards them.

“Yeah, that’s Shui Miaomiao,” Bai Feng nodded. Then he glanced at Yu Yao, puzzled. “I thought she had been living on Qingzhu Peak for a while now. Haven’t you seen her before?”

“I’ve been busy lately. I haven’t gone out except to find you,” Yu Yao shook her head, then squinted at Shui Miaomiao, scrutinizing her for a few seconds. “By the way, I thought the dragon clan was supposed to be quite robust? Why does this princess look a bit frail?”

After Yu Yao pointed it out, Bai Feng noticed that Shui Miaomiao’s steps seemed a bit unsteady. “Maybe she’s been training hard? I saw her asking Bai Yumo for sword techniques before. Even though she’s a princess, she doesn’t have the usual pampered attitude and works hard at her training.”

“Hmm…” Yu Yao nodded. “Speaking of which, is she walking towards us?”

“Probably here to ask Yumo for sword techniques?” Bai Feng stroked his chin, speculating.

At that moment, Bai Yumo opened her door. She looked at the two standing at her doorstep, but her gaze drifted to the side. “Brother, Senior Sister, what are you looking at?”