Qi Nan already knew his princess’s wicked tendencies like the back of his hand. When she said “go right away,” what she really meant was: after she finished her tea and snacks, bathed, dried her hair, and carefully selected her outfit, then she would go right away.
The traveling carriage at the mountain gate had been prepared early. He personally selected incense and placed it in a small purple-copper incense burner, added half a packet of candied plums to a white jade box, then after some thought, placed the book the princess had left unfinished fifteen hundred years ago on the seat cushion.
The last time he had prepared for the princess’s outing like this was over twenty thousand years ago.
With everything properly arranged, Qi Nan jumped down from the carriage, only to see Qing Yan standing on the bluestone gazing at the Zhongshan barrier. After a moment, he said in a low voice: “This barrier should be removed today, shouldn’t it?”
Qi Nan smiled: “This is Lord Dijun’s intention. As long as the princess remains at Zhongshan for even one day, the barrier must be raised to prevent outside guests from disturbing her quiet cultivation. If she stays at Yuhua Hall in the future, the barrier will naturally be removed.”
Qing Yan said flatly: “He locked himself in Changsheng Hall for so many years, and now he wants to lock A’Yi in Zhongshan too. It’s simply absurd.”
He raised his hand and waved. The barrier quickly split open from the middle, transforming into countless points of light. In the next moment, letters fell down in a flurry like snowflakes, instantly burying more than half the carriage in the blink of an eye. His eyes swept over them rapidly, and he said in surprise: “Why is there still an unopened letter from over twenty thousand years ago?”
Just as he was about to grab that letter, Qi Nan moved faster and snatched it into his sleeve first: “It must be a greeting letter from the princess’s former classmate. I somehow didn’t notice it. Thank you, Young Dragon Lord.”
Qing Yan frowned helplessly: “Qi Nan… what matter requires you to hide it from me like this?”
Qi Nan forced a smile, but then heard the princess’s voice coming from the stairs: “Eh? Why are there letters all over the ground?”
She walked down the stairs step by step. The golden thread embroidered closed-eyed dragon on her lustrous white skirt hem was extraordinarily magnificent. A fiery red fox fur stole hung over her arms, golden rings in her hair gleamed brilliantly, and her wooden-soled shoes made crisp sounds as they tapped on the steps.
Qi Nan sighed: “Princess, this outfit…”
Xuan Yi touched the soft, fluffy stole: “Does my outfit not look good?”
“It looks good, very good, but… the princess should dress somewhat like a warrior.”
For instance, pin all her hair up, wear proper soft boots, have sleeves that aren’t so wide, a skirt hem that isn’t so long, and if possible, hang the sword from the wall at her waist to put on an appearance—that would be even better.
“This is my warrior outfit.” She remained completely unmoved, and instead turned to embrace Qing Yan’s arm, looking up with a smile: “Will you come with me, please?”
Qing Yan chuckled softly: “When you stop clinging to me like this, that’s when you’ll truly be grown up. Let’s go.”
Qi Nan watched the carriage leave the mountain gate and disappear into the sea of clouds before he slowly took out the letter from his sleeve. With the pure energy of the divine realm circulating around it, white paper wouldn’t decay for millions of years and remained as pristine as new. Sure enough, it bore the cloud pattern totem of the Huaxu Clan.
The strange thing was that there wasn’t a single character written on the envelope, nor was it sealed. He pulled out the letter paper inside, and it too was completely blank—not even a single ink dot.
A blank heavenly book? What could this mean?
Qi Nan was completely baffled. He could only put the letter away again, shaking his head as he slowly turned to ascend the stairs.
*
After the demon clan began ravaging the lower realm, Yuhua Hall within the Palace of Ten Thousand Gods replaced Wenhua Hall and became the largest palace. The leisurely era of songs and dances had passed. The guards all wore expressions tinged with gravity, and the various gods coming and going near Mount Wanshen were even more hurried, the atmosphere oppressive.
To conserve divine power, Lord Dijun Baize no longer used great supernatural abilities to gather the Palace of Ten Thousand Gods together. The various halls were now scattered across the cloud-covered peaks of Mount Wanshen, and Yuhua Hall currently sat atop the highest point of Mount Wanshen’s main peak.
Zhi Xi climbed the long stairway one level at a time. As she drew closer and closer to Yuhua Hall, her mind grew increasingly restless.
Over the years, she had been searching for traces of Shao Yi. It wasn’t until over a month ago that she learned that because Shao Yi was from the Qingyang Clan, he had been sent early on to the Wuchen Division to oversee and guard the Sea of Parting Regret.
Now the divine realm’s warriors were organized into sixty divisions, all under Yuhua Hall’s unified command. She belonged to the Xinyou Division, responsible for hunting scattered demon clans, and had no connection whatsoever with the Wuchen Division. If things continued like this, she feared she would never see him again.
She still remembered what he said when they descended to the lower realm together and he gazed at the Sea of Parting Regret from afar. He said he wanted to become a warrior, and one day would restore the Sea of Parting Regret to its original state. Now he was earnestly advancing toward his goal, so… could she secretly follow behind him? She wouldn’t disturb him or pester him. She only wanted to see him every day—that was all.
So five days ago, she had submitted to Yuhua Hall a letter requesting transfer to the Wuchen Division. Today she would know the result.
Zhi Xi’s heart was both fearful and expectant. What did Shao Yi look like now? He should have become a very formidable warrior, right? She wondered what magnificent bearing that would be.
As she thought about this, she felt her neck growing hot. Over the years, quite a few divine lords had pursued her, but her heart had held one figure since her youth and could no longer accommodate anyone else. Even though she knew this obsession was absurd and wouldn’t lead to any result, she had no way to help it.
Just as she was about to enter Yuhua Hall, she suddenly heard a familiar soft voice calling to her from ahead: “Senior Sister Zhi Xi?”
Zhi Xi quickly raised her head and stared in astonishment at the young goddess walking gracefully from within the hall doors—she looked very familiar, like a certain little devil who had thrown Mingxing Hall into complete chaos long ago but had now grown a bit. Her face was still translucent and full, her figure still slender as a willow, but the once slightly immature features now showed hints of charm, with much less childishness.
“…Xuan Yi?” she exclaimed, hurrying forward. “…Why did you never come to class again afterward? Are you well? You never replied to the letters either!…”
Before she could finish speaking, this beautiful young goddess had already affectionately embraced her arm and looked her up and down: “Senior Sister doesn’t dress herself up again, but you’re still beautiful.”
Zhi Xi’s face flushed from being bombarded by her long-absent sweet words. Suddenly she saw Qing Yan following from behind, and she quickly bowed respectfully: “Greetings to Young Dragon Lord.”
If she remembered correctly, these siblings weren’t even forty thousand years old yet, right? Why had they suddenly come to Yuhua Hall?
Qing Yan was always polite but aloof with goddesses. He merely nodded slightly in acknowledgment, then raised his hand to touch Xuan Yi’s hair, saying in a low voice: “Then stay here. If you find it tiresome, return to Zhongshan. You needn’t worry about anything. Under forty thousand years old, you don’t have to mind them in the first place.”
Xuan Yi slowly nodded, hooking his sleeve and saying softly: “Don’t forget to have Qi Nan send over all my clothes, and the flowers I use for making rouge paste, and my shoes, and also…”
Qing Yan felt his head swelling: “Stop. Qi Nan naturally knows what to send. I’m leaving.”
He never dragged things out. When he said he was leaving, he left. Xuan Yi stood at the hall entrance gazing at the carriage as it disappeared into the sea of clouds. She stood there for a long while before turning back to smile at Zhi Xi: “Senior Sister, shall we go in together? I still have so many things I want to say to you.”
Zhi Xi smiled as she looked her over. Before, her stature had been short, only reaching Zhi Xi’s ear. Now standing together, they were the same height. She took her arm, saying: “Why did you come here?”
Xuan Yi said leisurely: “It seems that Goddess Wangshu was severely injured, so they called me to take up the position of Wangshu early.”
But she had just clearly seen Goddess Wangshu perfectly fine at the White Armor Courtyard, not looking at all severely injured. So apparently rumors couldn’t be trusted.
Great Emperor Qingyuan, who had sent her countless letters, had persistently begged her to stay and learn some martial arts. Finally, he simply brought out grand principles: “Now that the demon clan is ravaging the lower realm, this is not like the past. When the princess reaches forty thousand years of age, she will eventually still have to become a warrior. Since this is so, why not remain at Yuhua Hall to train in martial arts? This seat knows the princess is Lord Dijun Baize’s disciple, but the Lord Dijun likely cannot spare the time to guide the princess. Young Dragon Lord still follows Lord Dijun Xuanming in cultivation, and Lord Dijun Zhongshan is in the lower realm exterminating demon clans and also cannot guide the princess. Within Yuhua Hall are countless formidable warriors—seven thousand years is enough to give the princess the power to protect herself.”
So in truth, Qi Nan had been right after all. Yuhua Hall had forcibly pulled her from Zhongshan simply because they were annoyed she wouldn’t learn martial arts. They were insisting she learn—after all, the divine realm was now strenuously cultivating warriors, and every deity under forty thousand years old was being forced to undertake training a hundred times more arduous than before. They couldn’t tolerate her carefree ways.
Moreover, she was from the Zhuyin Clan.
A Zhuyin Clan member who couldn’t fight would simply be too much of a waste of her talent. Even if she herself didn’t find it regrettable, countless Lord Dijuns and Great Emperors throughout the divine realm would feel the regret on her behalf.