This sleep kept the Princess sleeping for another five days. Yuhua Hall probably had someone skilled in divination who calculated that the Princess had awakened from the Thousand-Year Dream. In recent days, the letters sent had been suspended outside Zhongshan’s barrier like goose-feather snow, with the dijuns urging with burning urgency.

Qi Nan estimated that at this rate, if the Princess continued being lazy and sleeping a few more days, they could personally run to Zhongshan to capture her. With Zhongshan Dijun absent, the barrier he had set up probably couldn’t stop those dijuns from Yuhua Hall.

But even if Zhongshan Dijun were present, he couldn’t withstand the weight of celestial duty. In this extraordinary period of great chaos in the mortal realm, even as noble as the Zhuyin Clan, their past willfulness could not be tolerated. That Yuhua Hall was urging so urgently meant that Goddess Wangshu’s condition must not be optimistic. The Princess had another seven thousand years until she turned forty thousand years old—the age was about right, and her qualifications were even better. Divine duty dictated that she must not shirk responsibility.

By the sixth day, Qi Nan no longer dared dispatch guards outside the barrier to patrol. It was said that the letters sent had nearly piled up to the mountain gate. He left them alone and ignored them, going instead to Zifu to check on the Princess’s condition.

Just as he approached Yuanzhan Hall, he saw Qing Yan standing beneath the moon window, head lowered as he played with a white snow octagonal exquisite pagoda. Over these years, the Princess had fashioned quite a few strange and peculiar things, all piled beneath the moon window, carefully arranged by Qi Nan one by one on crystal stands.

“Qi Nan, what exactly happened when her heart wound relapsed last time?” Qing Yan placed the exquisite pagoda back on the stand and turned to ask.

Back when he had finished the Thousand-Year Dream and returned to Zhongshan to visit Qi Nan, he hadn’t expected Xuan Yi would also be staying here. She hadn’t returned to Mingxing Hall to attend lectures, only reading booklets at home each day and following her father in studying techniques. It actually seemed quite proper. If Qi Nan hadn’t let something slip once, he probably still wouldn’t know about her heart wound relapsing.

Qi Nan shook his head: “Since it’s something that caused the Princess pain, it’s better not to mention or ask about it. Let’s give them time to take it slow.”

Qing Yan smiled helplessly: “Last time I asked, you said the same thing. Could the matter be related to Fucang Shenjun of the Huaxu Clan?”

Qi Nan only shook his head: “Xiaolong Jun needn’t ask further.”

Qing Yan let out a breath. Actually, he was more worried about that Qingyang Clan member Shao Yi. When Xuan Yi’s childhood injury relapsed, that was a severe wound that would inevitably lead to death. That she slept two hundred years and was fine meant Shao Yi must have intervened.

Qing Yan recalled how at that time Xuan Yi had made a fuss about wanting to see Cuihe River. He knew it was a final rally before death and couldn’t bear to deny her wish, so he secretly took her there. At the Cuihe riverside, he encountered Qingyang Clan’s Shao Yi. He had originally thought he would do them harm because of the friction between the two clans, but who knew he would only walk over, look at Xuan Yi’s injury, and say: I can save her, but you must vow to keep it secret.

He made the vow, and Shao Yi used two of his own phoenix heart feathers to suppress Xuan Yi’s heart wound, then said: I won’t sever the heart feather connection. This little loach was saved by me. Her life from now on belongs to me. Protect her well for me—don’t let her get hurt even a little bit.

At the time he didn’t understand what “not severing the heart feather connection” meant. Only after he understood did he realize this life-saving grace was actually using life to coerce. All along he had desperately cultivated to this day precisely so that if circumstances changed someday in the future, he could still protect his little sister under his wings.

He hadn’t wanted to let her know about this matter, but through some twist of fate, she still found out. Qing Yan had originally worried she would be anxious and uneasy, but it didn’t seem like it. His little sister had always had a peculiar temperament. After pressing him with questions for a while, she probably saw that he didn’t know much more than she did and actually stopped asking, as if the matter didn’t exist at all.

Honestly speaking, on this point of composure, he truly admired her a bit.

He had originally wanted to seek out Shao Yi, but his own cultivation wasn’t yet complete. Rashly seeking him out would instead be unwise. This matter could only remain suspended, and once suspended, more than ten thousand years had passed. Now with demon clans rampaging in the mortal realm and the situation in the divine realm in complete chaos, the Qingyang Clan, like the Zhuyin Clan, could no longer remain secluded from worldly affairs. Shao Yi should already be a war general by now. He could only wait until he himself reached forty thousand years old and descended to the mortal realm before he could find an opportunity to capture Shao Yi.

Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly heard a soft voice still carrying sleepiness from within the moon window: “Who’s there? I’m hungry.”

This little ancestor had finally deigned to wake up, and upon waking, the first thing was hunger. Qi Nan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Princess, get up quickly. Xiaolong Jun has returned.”

As soon as the words fell, a slender lotus-colored figure pounced out from the moon window like a hungry tiger leaping for food. Qing Yan quickly spread his arms and caught her. Feeling her weight in his embrace, she seemed a bit heavier. He smiled and looked down at her, nodding: “Already so grown up and still pouncing around. No propriety at all.”

Xuan Yi hooked her arms around his neck and only smiled: “When did you get back? Did you wait specially for me to wake up?”

Qing Yan patted her head twice just like when she was little, then set her down on the ground: “Waited five days, and the first thing you say is that your belly is hungry. All you know is eating.”

Xuan Yi tilted her head and looked him up and down. After sleeping for one thousand five hundred years, the first person she saw upon waking was Qing Yan—the feeling really wasn’t bad.

“You’ve gotten fat.” She seriously touched his shoulder. This trip back, he had grown considerably wider and longer.

Qing Yan felt he too didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “This is called sturdy. Your mouth is still as wicked as ever.”

Xuan Yi used her sleeve to suppress a yawn and turned to look at Qi Nan: “Qi Nan, is there anything to eat?”

Calculating that she hadn’t eaten for one thousand five hundred years—too terrifying. She didn’t know how many years it would take to make up for it.

Qi Nan hurriedly arranged for the attending immortal maidens to bring fiber cloud brocade carpets and food, spreading them beneath the red maple trees. He accompanied the siblings as they ate and chatted. Suddenly, the Princess leaned over to stare at him, touched his beard, and smiled slightly: “Qi Nan, your beard has whitened again. Leave matters to other divine officials and rest.”

Qi Nan felt a wave of warmth in his heart. He hadn’t loved her in vain! He couldn’t help but well up with tears, about to shed tears of age.

“Put those tears away quickly.” Xuan Yi went to snatch the meatballs she liked from Qing Yan’s plate. “Qing Yan, how long will you stay on this trip back?”

Qing Yan simply pushed all the meatballs on his plate to her. Seeing that she had slept so long with her long hair loose, nearly hanging to the ground, he casually braided it into a long plait for her while saying: “About two or three more days before I should go back.”

Another two or three days. Every time he came back, he could only stay two or three days. Xuan Yi smiled and glanced at him: “Then later let’s compare techniques.”

She was now a truly impressive Zhuyin Clan member. Without form or image, her techniques moved with her heart’s intention. She was no longer that waste who could only make snow.

Qing Yan couldn’t help but laugh: “Why not compare combat skills?”

She pretended not to hear, using her chopstick tips to pick up the meatballs bit by bit and eat them all, not touching anything else. She was about to push aside the small table and call for tea and snacks—she hadn’t eaten good cakes or good tea for one thousand five hundred years, and she was simply parched with hunger and thirst.

Suddenly, from outside Zhongshan’s barrier came a sound like a giant bell being struck, deafening. Immediately following, a celestial voice descended: “Princess Xuan Yi! Proceed immediately to Yuhua Hall!”

Xuan Yi brushed the stray hair by her temples: “Who is this?”

Qi Nan rarely showed a flash of anger. These dijuns of Yuhua Hall were really too excessive. The Princess had just awakened from the Thousand-Year Dream, yet they were actually using the Imperial Voice Technique to urge her. He took out letters from his sleeve and handed them to her: “Princess, see for yourself.”

Xuan Yi glanced at them casually, her brows immediately furrowing: “I haven’t had tea and snacks, bathed, combed my hair, or changed clothes yet.”

…What was she concerned about? Qi Nan rubbed his temples: “Princess, I’m afraid Goddess Wangshu’s life hangs by a thread, which is why Yuhua Hall is urging so urgently. Divine duty demands it. Look, this… should I write back telling them to wait a few more days?”

Xuan Yi lowered her head and read the letter again, saying nothing. Qing Yan said in a low voice: “A Yi, if you don’t want to go, then don’t bother with it.”

Qi Nan sighed: “Xiaolong Jun, this matter cannot be handled willfully.”

Xuan Yi put down the letter, turned her head to touch her braid. In her mind, however, floated the scene from years ago when Goddess Wangshu had removed the demon poison barb for her. The world was impermanent. Even as noble as celestial gods, they couldn’t withstand the myriad changes. The once arrogant and domineering Divine Lord Feilian had already perished. The ice-like and transcendent Goddess Wangshu also hung between life and death.

She was silent for a moment, then spoke: “I’ll go right away.”