Qi Nan opened the food box and looked inside.

Within the food box made of Three Mulberry Tree material, golden sheets separated plum blossom-shaped compartments. In each compartment were placed two exquisitely crafted tea cakes, among which were the princess’s favorites—Peach Blossom Hundred Fruits Cake and Agate White Jade Cake.

“Brew a pot of Radiant Soaring Scenery Tea,” he instructed the female immortal beside him.

The little princess’s appreciation of tea cakes could be called exacting. What tea cakes to pair with what tea was all extremely particular. Since he was going to find her to go out today, naturally he had to coax her into a good mood first.

When stepping into the cloud realm of the Purple Mansion, Qi Nan’s heart suddenly felt somewhat emotional.

Before his eyes, the Purple Mansion was planted full of Imperial Daughter Mulberry, with rich green and pale red interweaving everywhere—a scene completely different from what he had seen nine thousand years ago. The Purple Mansion at that time was buried under ten thousand measures of ice layers, trapped in darkness where one couldn’t see one’s hand before one’s face.

Just approaching the princess’s Yuanzhan Hall, he felt cold intent assaulting his face. Though the Purple Mansion was full of vibrant life everywhere, only the area near Yuanzhan Hall was covered in ice and snow. Before the hall were countless objects piled from white snow—some were human figures, some were flowers and plants, and even more were various strange and peculiar houses.

The little princess wore a fire-red fox fur wrap and was sitting on a crystal stool, concentrating wholeheartedly on pinching the white snow in her hands into a snow peony.

This familiar scene made Qi Nan think back to several thousand years ago, when he had broken through ice in the pitch-black Purple Mansion to advance, searching everywhere for the little princess’s traces. Finally, he had seen her before Yuanzhan Hall. At that time, she was also pinching flowers, but before the hall was only one snowman, lifelike—precisely the appearance of the madam when she had fallen to the ground upon perishing.

She had pinched ice flowers and gently tossed them onto the snowman, and before long had covered the entire snowman.

He had been both shocked and saddened, and so had asked her gently: “Princess, what are you doing?”

At that time, the little princess who was just fifteen hundred years old had been very calm: “I’m sending Mother some flowers to cover the blood on her body.”

These memories were not particularly pleasant. Qi Nan sighed quietly in his heart.

“Princess,” he called to her, raising the food box in his hand. “The tea cakes have arrived.”

The princess who was concentrating on pinching a snow peony suddenly spoke, with three parts laziness and three parts coquettishness: “Qi Nan, you must have some troublesome matter to find me about. I’m not eating these tea cakes.”

Qi Nan smiled as he opened the food box: “Really not eating?”

Xuan Yi turned her head and caught sight of the Peach Blossom Hundred Fruits Cake and Agate White Jade Cake at a glance. She immediately smiled as brightly as the spring breeze: “Qi Nan, you’re so good! What’s the tea?”

“Radiant Soaring Scenery Tea.” Qi Nan gently placed the blue jade teapot on the crystal table.

Xuan Yi was delighted. She picked through the box for quite a while, first pinching up an Agate White Jade Cake and taking a small bite. Over there, Qi Nan had already poured her a cup of tea. Accompanied by the elegant fragrance of the Radiant Soaring Scenery Tea, she demolished half the box of tea cakes in one go before finally letting out a satisfied sigh. She picked up the unfinished peony at the table’s edge and continued pinching.

After a while, she suddenly raised her hand with a beaming smile. An ice-crystal-like weeping peony was blooming in her palm, with densely packed jade-like veins on the semi-transparent petals—supremely elegant and beautiful.

“Qi Nan, shall I put this weeping peony on your lapel?”

No good—after eating and drinking, she wouldn’t acknowledge her debts. Qi Nan smiled bitterly: “An old man like me with graying hair—what flower should I wear?”

Xuan Yi leaned over and gently fastened the snow peony to his lapel, smiling: “You’re not old at all. Look—how well it suits you!”

Qi Nan touched the snow peony. The ice-cold sensation made his heart soften slightly, and his voice became gentler: “Princess, we’ve already made an appointment with Baize Dijun today. It’s time to set out.”

Xuan Yi showed a completely bewildered expression: “Who is Baize Dijun?”

She was skilled at playing dumb. Qi Nan felt helpless and could only explain again: “Last time I mentioned to the princess about taking a master. Baize Dijun is one of the thirty chief seats in the Pantheon Hall. Having him as your master, the princess will certainly benefit greatly.”

“Can’t you just teach me yourself, Qi Nan?”

Qi Nan shook his head: “How can just anyone in the divine realm be a master? Only celestial deities with seats in the Pantheon Hall can shoulder this important responsibility. When the princess reaches fifty thousand years of age, without a letter of recommendation from a master in the Pantheon Hall, it’s the great crime of banishment to the mortal realm—even imperial sons and daughters cannot be exempted.”

This was a hard and fast rule of the divine realm. Every new divine clan member under fifty thousand years old had to take a master within the Pantheon Hall and study the Five Elements and Yin-Yang, general principles of divine positions, fortunes and calamities, and other such things so that they could obtain divine positions, each performing their duties, lest they idle about visiting flowers and willows, leading to the corruption of the various deities.

Xuan Yi said indifferently: “I’m still far from fifty thousand years old.”

Qi Nan knew that reasoning gently with her wouldn’t work, so he simply smiled: “The princess naturally knows the reason—why ask again?”

Day in and day out, she just nested inside the Purple Mansion, not going out the main gate or the secondary entrance. They had gone to great effort to have Tian Di play matchmaker to introduce Fucang Shenjun, only for her to deliberately ruin things. What the Dijun feared most was precisely the princess being raised in the inner chambers without knowledge of worldly affairs.

Xuan Yi blinked her eyes: “But I don’t feel well today.”

Qi Nan shook his head repeatedly with teasing: “No matter what, you’re still a princess. If not speaking with the weight of nine tripods, at least you should do what you say. Last time when I brought this matter up with the princess, what did the princess say? ‘You arrange it; I’m fine with anything.’ Is the princess’s current behavior called ‘fine with anything’? Moreover, is the princess truly physically unwell? I didn’t see it at all when you were eating tea cakes just now.”

Xuan Yi finally put down the snowflake in her hands, stood up and adjusted her fox fur wrap, and sighed: “Let’s go then. I’ll go.”

The Pantheon Hall was situated within the Central Heaven’s Ten Thousand Gods Mountain. Because it was not far from the Heavenly Palace, and various divine departments’ inspections and verifications all took place here, divine clans came and went in crowds—extremely lively.

After the long carriage landed, Qi Nan was in no hurry to get off. He first took out a jade box from his sleeve. Opening it, he saw inside a brocade cushion woven from霞Light silk and Celestial River jade, and on the cushion was a pitch-black scale the size of a palm, deep and lightless, with intricate patterns.

Xuan Yi was somewhat stunned: “This is Father’s scale?”

The scales of Zhongshan Longshen feared neither the Five Elements and Yin-Yang nor divine weapons—they could be called supreme treasures. To give it to that old man Baize Dijun just to ask him to accept herself as a disciple?

Qi Nan smiled: “With Baize Dijun’s abilities, he naturally deserves a dragon scale of the Zhuyin Clan.”

It was said that this Baize Dijun was the oldest among the celestial deities still in service in the divine realm today. He had opened the Way of Natural Heaven and was proficient in the principles of all things in the world. The thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three halls within the Pantheon Hall were precisely protected by his great divine powers.

Divine clans who wanted to become disciples under his seat were as numerous as fish crossing a river. However, he was extremely strict in selecting disciples and often liked to have sudden inspirations to pose very tricky and peculiar questions to test those who came seeking his name. Therefore, there were rumors that even among one hundred thousand divine clans, it was difficult to produce one disciple under Baize Dijun’s seat.

“Baize Dijun originally heard the princess was still young in years and declined to meet. If not for Tian Di’s persuasion and the Dijun sending such a generous gift, I fear even this one meeting would be difficult to obtain. However, meeting is meeting—whether this matter can succeed still depends on whether the princess gains his discerning favor. The princess must not act recklessly and waste the Dijun’s dragon scale.”

Qi Nan knew her bad habits best and couldn’t help but earnestly advise her at length.

Xuan Yi nodded while pushing open the carriage door. Who would have thought that as soon as the door opened, auspicious light filled the sky and earth outside, rushing at them and nearly blinding them both.

Before Baize Dijun’s Mingxing Hall, who knew how many long carriages were parked. Young celestial deities all waited eagerly at the entrance, hoping the Dijun would give them a chance to be tested.

Qi Nan couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: “There are actually so many divine clans hoping to enter Baize Dijun’s tutelage!”

He helped the princess down from the long carriage. For a moment, the celestial deities guarding the hall entrance all turned their heads, and countless pairs of eyes fixed in unison on Xuan Yi—the situation looked rather frightening.

Xuan Yi adjusted the fire-red fox fur wrap on her body and said softly with lowered head: “Why are they all looking at me?”

Qi Nan smiled bitterly: “It’s all because of what the princess did herself. That day in Hua Huang’s back garden, displaying such grand pageantry and literally angering Fucang Shenjun into leaving—the princess already has a bad reputation.”

Oh, so that’s how it is.

Xuan Yi nodded in understanding and walked forward composedly and calmly, eyes looking straight ahead without glancing sideways.