And Di Yiqiu truly did pick out a set of everyday attire.

At the time, the shopkeeper had long since gone to sleep, but encountering him, what could be done?

He could only yawn, force a smile, and curse inwardly while helping him try on clothes.

The next day, before dawn had even broken, Jianzheng had already finished preparing.

Today was the first time he didn’t wear official robes, but instead changed into a light golden everyday outfit. This made him look less imposing and more like a noble young master full of graceful spirit. He crushed a transmission talisman and rushed to Kanyue City.

Outside Kanyue City, there truly was a dense forest.

Jianzheng leaned against a tree to wait. He suddenly became incomparably patient.

Because he thought Teacher Di Sanmeng might not want to see outsiders, he came to the appointment alone, bringing no one.

For the first time in his life, Di Yiqiu pondered what kind of person this would be. Would their temperament be like Miao Yunzhi’s, or like He Xijin’s?

But no matter what, this teacher was surely an incomparable national scholar.

At this moment, footsteps came from outside the dense forest. The footsteps were very light, treading on withered branches and fallen leaves, making only a slight sound.

Di Yiqiu suddenly turned around and saw behind him someone wearing a black gauze veil hat, walking step by step toward this place.

“Teacher Di Sanmeng?” Di Yiqiu was both wary and uncertain.

The person before him wore black robes and a veil hat. Because the black gauze of the veil hat was too long, their entire person was concealed, making it impossible to tell if they were old or young, male or female.

They walked before Di Yiqiu and extended their hand, making a gesture inviting him to sit.

Di Yiqiu sat as instructed—he had always been skeptical of Huang Rang’s words. So he wasn’t certain whether the person before him was Huang Rang deliberately toying with him.

But despite harboring such suspicion, he still came to keep the appointment.

Before him, Di Sanmeng dressed entirely in black gauze gathered their robes and sat with him in the dense forest.

They picked up a withered branch and wrote on the soft ground: “Why has my lord come?”

Di Yiqiu knew they found it inconvenient to speak. He was originally an extremely skilled craftsman and had an innate sensitivity to identifying handwriting.

Seeing the handwriting in the soil, he confirmed that the person before him was indeed Di Sanmeng.

He immediately said: “This one is Di Yiqiu. I have long admired Teacher’s name and have always desired to meet you. Teacher hides among the marketplace, serving the country and the people—you are truly a noble person.”

Di Sanmeng, hidden beneath the veil hat, had an expression that couldn’t be clearly seen.

Holding the withered branch, they continued writing: “Just a small effort.”

Di Yiqiu said: “This one knows that Teacher conceals your identity due to unavoidable difficulties. But over many years, the seed cultivation families have monopolized superior varieties, and their contracts also have many rules. That Teacher dares to break these rules—this one greatly admires it.”

He stood up and bowed with cupped hands to Di Sanmeng sitting beneath the tree, saying: “Now the Si Tianjian wishes to purchase a batch of the most drought-resistant superior varieties. I wonder if Teacher would be willing to emerge to help?”

After he finished speaking, Di Sanmeng before him remained motionless for a long time.

Di Yiqiu hurriedly said: “Please rest assured, Teacher. Whatever requirements you have, this one will do their utmost to fulfill them.”

Di Sanmeng was silent for a long while, then suddenly the branch in their hand moved again. They briefly wrote one character: “Yes.”

Di Yiqiu had never expected this teacher would be so agreeable. He had prepared to persuade further, and if Teacher was unwilling, he wouldn’t force it. But they agreed so readily, it instead caught him off guard.

Di Sanmeng, through the black veil hat, seemed to also be sizing him up, then asked a completely unrelated question: “Why did my lord choose these clothes today?”

Even someone as quick-witted as Di Yiqiu was stumped by this question.

After a while, he finally answered truthfully: “I just felt that the dense forest is dark and damp, and the light golden color makes one feel bathed in warm sunlight.”

Di Sanmeng fell silent again. Jianzheng could only ask: “Does Teacher find it inappropriate?”

“No.” Di Sanmeng wrote down this single character. The surging emotions in Di Yiqiu’s heart calmed slightly, then he noticed Di Sanmeng’s hand. Their sleeves were too long, so the entire hand was gathered within the sleeve. The withered branch was held in their hand, revealing a glimpse of jade-colored skin.

But among people of immortal sects, one couldn’t distinguish old from young, male from female by mundane standards.

Their skin condition often had nothing to do with age or gender.

Di Yiqiu also didn’t wish to investigate—if Teacher was unwilling to reveal themselves, they had their considerations. If he insisted on prying, it would be presumptuous.

The two fell into brief silence, and just then, crows in the dense forest took flight in alarm.

Di Yiqiu’s brow furrowed slightly, and Di Sanmeng also slowly stood up.

In the soft soil, it seemed some monster was hiding within and rapidly charging forward.

Di Yiqiu had always been alert. He instinctively moved in front of Di Sanmeng, took an object from his bosom, and placed it on the ground.

Di Sanmeng lowered their head in silence, while the treasure he took out looked like a crystal sphere. As the earth trembled, it emitted a strange sound wave. The monster in the earth moved slower and slower, until finally with a muffled groan, it burst from the ground!

He wore black clothes with a black scarf covering his face, gripping a dagger in his hand. His intention had been to ambush Di Sanmeng, but at this moment he couldn’t stand steady.

He swayed unsteadily, his expression extremely pained. But he still persisted in trying to advance, taking a few more steps forward.

The crystal ball began to vibrate, and a humming sound could be heard.

Finally, blood flowed from his ears and nose. With a miserable scream, he fell to the ground motionless.

Only then did Di Yiqiu pick up the crystal ball from the ground and said: “I didn’t expect Teacher has always been in such a dangerous situation. Just upon showing yourself, you were targeted.”

Di Sanmeng remained silent. This was of course natural. How many people’s livelihoods had the current Di Sanmeng blocked?

There were plenty of people who wanted to eliminate them as quickly as possible.

Di Yiqiu presented the crystal ball with both hands, saying: “This object is for protection. It emits a sound different from normal that can quickly suppress enemies. Of course, its effect may weaken against those with exceptionally deep cultivation, but it’s this one’s small token of regard. Please, Teacher, you must accept it.”

Di Sanmeng thought about it and finally reached out to accept it. Just then, Di Yiqiu saw their hand—that hand was slender and delicate, and observing the bone structure, it was definitely a woman’s!

Teacher is a woman?

Di Yiqiu’s brow furrowed slightly, but he didn’t think further—prying into others’ privacy, especially Teacher Di Sanmeng’s, was truly discourteous.

Just then, several more assassins closed in.

It seemed the person who charged earlier was just trying to probe their strength.

Now there were six assassins in total, each wearing black clothes with faces that couldn’t be seen clearly.

—Di Sanmeng aside, Di Yiqiu was after all imperial family. If they killed Di Sanmeng, Di Yiqiu couldn’t be left alive either. So they had to conceal their identities.

Di Yiqiu pulled another treasure from his bosom. Seeing this, the assassins hurriedly retreated.

—They had all seen the dagger-wielder suffer greatly earlier.

Di Yiqiu was currently only fourteen years old with weak cultivation.

Originally, in these assassins’ eyes, they hadn’t taken him seriously at all.

After all, adding his head to the price was only because he was born into the imperial family, making his identity troublesome.

But now entering the dense forest, they discovered he was also difficult to deal with.

The several people looked at each other. Finally, the leader signaled, and the six people dispersed. Two of them flanked Di Yiqiu, trying to separate him from Di Sanmeng.

After all, their main target was still Di Sanmeng.

Di Sanmeng held the crystal ball, which still retained the warmth from Di Yiqiu’s fingers.

The six assassins flew forward. Someone used a soul-summoning banner. As the banner waved, countless skeletal claws immediately extended from the ground.

Di Yiqiu firmly blocked in front of Di Sanmeng. He gripped a firework-shaped treasure and was about to activate it again when suddenly, behind him, Di Sanmeng leaped up. Holding a section of withered branch, their body like swift wind, they rushed toward the assassins.

The assassins originally found it laughable, but when the withered branch drew near, instantly sword energy blazed like a rainbow!

Someone shouted: “Heart Sword!”

“What?” Another person asked.

But they only managed to leave behind these two sentences.

Heart Sword—the most profound sword technique of the current number one immortal sect, Yuhu Xuanzong. Before such an expert, this group of assassins didn’t have much opportunity to speak.

In an instant, only six corpses remained in the dense forest.

Di Yiqiu stood in place, watching Di Sanmeng easily dispose of the assassins.

The swift wind billowed their black gauze, revealing an extremely graceful figure beneath. Di Yiqiu could be certain this Teacher Di Sanmeng was a woman.

Of course, he harbored absolutely no improper thoughts—it was entirely just admiration for a senior expert.

He bowed with cupped hands: “Senior’s swordsmanship truly reaches the pinnacle. I fear… it’s comparable to Yuhu Xuanzong’s Ancestor Lingbi.”

Xie Lingbi?

These three characters clearly couldn’t make Di Sanmeng happy.

They turned around and threw away the withered branch.

Di Yiqiu vaguely felt this person should be from Yuhu Xuanzong. Perhaps they were a certain elder of Yuhu Xuanzong.

Yuhu Xuanzong was a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. It wouldn’t be strange for any kind of extraordinary person to emerge from within.

Only… would anyone there cultivate seeds?

This truly had never been heard of.

By this point, Di Yiqiu admired this person’s character even more and bowed with cupped hands: “That senior has graced the capital is the fortune of all under heaven. If there is anything needed, this one is willing to serve like a dog or horse.”

Di Sanmeng slowly shook their head. They picked up the branch and slowly wrote several characters on the ground—I will fulfill your request and cultivate drought-resistant seeds. Give them to Huang Rang.

They mentioned Huang Rang. Di Yiqiu’s pupils contracted. After a long while, he asked: “Senior truly knows Huang Rang?”

But Di Sanmeng didn’t answer again. They departed gracefully.

Di Yiqiu hurried a few steps but ultimately didn’t catch up.

Such experts were like this—coming and going as they pleased, not lingering for anyone.

He stood in place, watching Di Sanmeng leave.

“Di Sanmeng” ran far away, then suddenly let out a long breath. Perceiving that Di Yiqiu hadn’t followed, she removed the veil hat, patted her chest, and calmed her fierce heartbeat.

Pretending to be an expert was truly exhausting. Especially in front of her future husband.

Seeing him so young with such a respectful and reverent manner, it really made one want to push him to the ground and love him properly…

Uh, thinking further might not be very healthy.

He wore light golden clothes today.

He said this color made one feel bathed in warm sunlight, able to dispel the damp darkness of this dense forest.

Huang Rang extracted sweet moments from the ground full of earth and gravel, her heart joyful and excited.

Di Yiqiu toward her seemed different from Xie Hongchen.

Xie Hongchen seemed to have more of a sense of familiarity with her, while Di Yiqiu in the dream was always cold upon first meeting.

Just as Huang Rang was thinking this, she saw a person coming toward her, striding rapidly toward the dense forest.

—Xie, Hong, Chen…

This person truly couldn’t be mentioned, couldn’t even be thought of.

Huang Rang quickly fled.

In the dense forest, Xie Hongchen entered to investigate.

Di Yiqiu had already erased the writing in the mud. Hearing movement, he originally thought it was more assassins. But seeing the person was him, he couldn’t help but be slightly surprised: “Chief Seat Xie.”

Xie Hongchen always traveled the four directions, so seeing him here wasn’t too strange.

But Xie Hongchen’s expression was extremely serious. He scrutinized Di Yiqiu and after a while asked: “Just now, someone here unleashed Heart Sword and slew assassins. Heart Sword is Yuhu Xuanzong’s highest sword technique—who has this ability?”

Hearing this, Jianzheng raised his eyebrow slightly and said: “Since it’s Yuhu Xuanzong’s supreme sword technique, then this seat can only ask Chief Seat Xie. Who used your sect’s sword technique to kill so many people?”

Hearing this, Xie Hongchen immediately felt great dislike for this person and said: “This place is remote. What is Jianzheng doing here?”

Jianzheng immediately asked: “This seat was just about to ask—this place is remote, what is Chief Seat Xie doing here? I heard that Chief Seat Xie is about to inherit the position of sect master. You’re not at Yuhu Xuanzong but have come here instead. And you’ve quietly killed so many people—could it be you’ve done something shameful that requires silencing witnesses?”

He was being unreasonable, and Xie Hongchen couldn’t be bothered with him.

Thinking he was after all young and ignorant, Chief Seat Xie didn’t want to argue with him. After examining the surroundings, he left on his own.

Jianzheng also prepared to leave. He walked a few steps, then looked back at the dense forest, finally remembering that Di Sanmeng had mentioned a name earlier—Huang Rang.

They said that when they cultivated the superior varieties, they would give them to Huang Rang.

Huang Rang… this salted fish actually truly knew Di Sanmeng.

Jianzheng thought to himself. Ah, he had also agreed to tour the capital with her for a day.

When Jianzheng thought of Huang Rang, what inexplicably appeared in his mind was always that year outside the Casting Institute, a small head poking out from the wall. From childhood to adulthood, Huang Rang had always been bouncing around in front of him.

So at this point, he could also think it through—tour together then tour together. After all, this salted fish had also watched him grow up.

Hmph.