The next day, Zanxing was awakened by Mimi stepping on her.

The plump white cat stepped across her chest, leaving four gray paw prints. Its tail swished back and forth, brushing across her nose tip, making her heart itch more than sunlight itself.

Zanxing touched her nose, lifted the covers, and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Sunlight streamed in from outside the window. On the long couch, the young man’s silhouette was the same as yesterday, simply like a statue.

She got up from bed, put on her shoes, and walked to Gu Baiying’s side.

This person had indeed sat here all night, but… was he asleep now?

Zanxing slowly crouched down and looked at the young man before her.

When Gu Baiying spoke normally, he always carried a hint of impatience. If someone annoyed him, that impatience would turn into arrogance. When he closed his eyes, his brows were smooth, revealing the gentleness rarely seen at ordinary times.

He had an extremely handsome face with every feature exquisite. Everyone in the Taiyan Sect said that Qinghua Xianzi was a great beauty rarely seen in a thousand years. Zanxing had never doubted this point, setting aside everything else, just looking at Gu Baiying’s appearance, she knew Qinghua Xianzi couldn’t possibly be ugly.

Sunlight fell on the young man’s nose tip, making his skin appear translucent. His lip line was extremely beautiful, and his jawline looked as if it had been drawn. With his eyes closed, his eyelashes drooped down, soft as butterfly wings in spring, like the flame tree flowers in the courtyard, always bringing to mind words of fresh beauty and goodness.

Zanxing gazed and gazed, as if bewitched, unable to resist reaching out her hand, wanting to touch this person’s eyelashes. Her hand had only risen halfway when Gu Baiying’s eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes.

She saw her reflection in his eyes.

The wind in the courtyard blew away the morning mist, scattering the dawn sunlight into tiny dancing star-threads in the air. In the copper brazier in the corner of the room, the palace’s special magnolia incense spread its fragrance to every corner. White gauze curtains danced behind the young man, as if they weren’t in Li’er Kingdom’s royal palace but in the Water Cloud Stream of Gufeng Mountain.

Inside and outside the painting, all was spring radiance.

Before she could come to her senses, she saw Gu Baiying frown and brush away her hand: “What are you doing?”

“I…” Zanxing couldn’t very well say she’d been mesmerized by his beauty, so she said: “I saw Uncle seemed to be asleep, so I wanted to get you some clothes to cover yourself with.”

Gu Baiying glanced at her empty hands: “Where are the clothes?”

Zanxing: “…I forgot.”

“Yang Zanxing,” Gu Baiying stood up and stared at her suspiciously: “Are you plotting something in your mind?”

“No.” Zanxing also stood up, rubbing her knees, and spoke sincerely: “What could I be plotting? Uncle, if you’re not going to sleep, go wash up. The maids should be bringing breakfast soon. I wonder if Senior Brother and Junior Brother Mendong have left yet?” As she spoke, she opened the main door of the room. Someone happened to be walking by the entrance and looked up to see Gu Baiying and Zanxing in the room.

“Rong Yu?” Zanxing asked.

The poor cultivator stood frozen in place for a long time before finally speaking with difficulty: “You two… slept together last night?”

“Hey, don’t talk nonsense!” Hearing this, Gu Baiying immediately stepped forward from behind and said angrily: “I cultivated in her room all night – I didn’t do anything!”

Zanxing: “…” Gu Baiying probably rarely explained himself to others. This clarification was worse than no clarification at all – the more he explained, the more suspicious it sounded, like protesting too much.

She looked at Rong Yu: “Last night, there seemed to be a demon in my room. Uncle was worried about my safety, so he cultivated in my room to protect me.”

“As an elder, taking care of juniors is proper.” Gu Baiying paused, stepped forward, and warned Rong Yu: “Boy, if you dare spread rumors everywhere, I’ll kill you.”

Rong Yu: “…I won’t say anything.”

Zanxing saw he was holding a basket made of red wood and asked: “What are you going to do?”

“These past few days, Senior Brother has been staying in the palace, and the Sovereign has had many medicinal materials sent over. We’ll be entering the Secret Realm in a few days, and Senior Brother must stay in the palace. I want to go thank the Sovereign.”

Ever since Rong Yu had made enemies with the Chihua Gate at the “Qiang Qiang Gambling House,” his days had been very difficult. Liuli Sect was a small sect with only two slots for entering the Secret Realm. Now that his senior brother was too severely injured to go, only Rong Yu remained. Although Tan Tianxin didn’t dare openly move against Rong Yu due to Gu Baiying’s presence, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to create obstacles later.

Zanxing looked at Rong Yu’s old clothes with patches and shook her head inwardly. This sect had become so poor. Fortunately, this time Li’er Kingdom’s sovereign was wealthy and generous, willing to provide medicinal materials from the palace treasury for his senior brother’s recovery. Otherwise, they probably couldn’t even afford to buy medicine with spirit stones.

“Perfect, we also have some things we want to ask the Sovereign,” Zanxing said. “Wait for us to wash up first, then we’ll go together.”

Regarding the records of the Demon Shark case from forty years ago, there were really too few detailed records. Last night, Zanxing had also discussed with Tian Fangfang and the others – this morning, after breakfast, they would go ask the Sovereign if there were any other records. Since Rong Yu was going anyway, they might as well go together.

Zanxing looked at Gu Baiying. Gu Baiying didn’t object, and after Rong Yu hesitated for a moment, he said: “Alright.”

After the two finished washing up, they went together to Li’er Kingdom’s main hall.

The Sovereign, knowing they were coming, had already arrived at the main hall. Seeing the three of them, the Sovereign had breakfast brought and invited them to eat while talking.

Gu Baiying indeed refused to eat “mortal food.” Rong Yu had come to express gratitude today, so after eating only a few bites, he first gave thanks eight times. This sovereign was also very approachable, telling him not to be so polite. Zanxing, listening to their polite exchanges, ate with even more relish.

“Yang Zanxing, mind your manners.” Gu Baiying used a sound transmission technique to speak into Zanxing’s ear, not forgetting to lecture her: “I think the Taiyan Sect’s reputation of several hundred years will be ruined in your hands sooner or later.”

“Big brother,” Zanxing silently transmitted back: “When someone invites you to eat and you refuse while making faces, that’s what’s rude.”

Gu Baiying decided to give up on reasoning with Zanxing.

The Sovereign looked at Zanxing and the others with concern: “I heard from the palace guards that last night a demon seemed to have infiltrated the Immortal’s room. Was the Immortal injured?”

Zanxing said, “No injuries, and we can’t be sure it was a demon. We also came today to ask Your Majesty about the records. Yesterday, the maid brought us records that Uncle and I have both read, but there are relatively few records about the Demon Shark. So we want to ask Your Majesty if there are any more detailed records, preferably with more information about the Demon Shark.”

The Sovereign shook his head: “When the Demon Shark case occurred, I had not yet been born. Many of the ministers who witnessed the Demon Shark’s rampage from beginning to end are also no longer in this world. All the records that could be found in the royal palace have already been delivered to you. There truly are no others.”