Xuan Yi reclined on a soft and comfortable rattan bed. To her left sat a white jade box of candied fruits, and to her right lay the booklet the teacher had given her. She ate a piece of candied fruit and read a few pages of the booklet—the thick booklet had almost been finished by her.

The divine servants carrying the rattan bed suddenly stopped their steps, and a female immortal reminded her: “Princess, we’ve arrived at Dragon Sleep Valley.”

She closed the booklet, elegantly spat out the plum pit from her mouth, and raised her eyes to look ahead—they were standing on a precipice. The so-called Dragon Sleep Valley was a sunken abyss in Zhongshan, beneath which earthfire surged with astonishing heat. Of course, this had no effect on true members of the Zhuyin Clan who feared neither the five elements nor yin and yang, so Dragon Sleep Valley was generally used to punish divine officials who made mistakes.

Xuan Yi took a breath, cupped her hands around her lips, and called out loudly: “Qi Nan! Come up quickly! Qi Nan!”

After calling five or six times, a figure finally flew up from the bottom of the cliff. It was indeed Qi Nan. He was covered in sweat, his face as white as snow, and upon seeing the princess, he showed an expression of shame and regret, his eyes reddening.

Before he could speak, Xuan Yi laughed and said: “Qi Nan, if you dare to cry, I’ll pluck out your beard.”

She waved her hand, ordering the divine servants and female immortals to withdraw, then smiled and reached out to him: “Qi Nan, come over quickly. Running off to stay in this wretched place for three days without a word—my injuries haven’t improved by half a bit, so stop doing these meaningless things.”

It would have been better if she hadn’t mentioned her injuries. Once she brought them up, Qi Nan was about to shed tears again: “I shouldn’t have forced the princess to descend to the lower realm.”

From childhood until now, the princess had always been cherished and protected with great care. Who knew that this time in the lower realm she would be injured this badly by some unknown minor demon? Had he known this would happen, he would rather have watched the princess ride on Tian Di’s neck and pluck his beard than let her descend to the lower realm to do that damned homework.

“We already went down, so stop talking about these annoying things.” Xuan Yi lifted her skirt hem and touched her right leg wrapped in white cloth. The new white cloth that had been changed half a shichen ago was already stained with patches of bloodstains from divine blood. “Why won’t this wound heal? Is it because of those demon poison barbs?”

Qi Nan hurriedly pressed her skirt back down properly and sighed: “Don’t touch it. It has nothing to do with the barbs. This is just how the Zhuyin Clan is.”

With a constitution impervious to ten thousand methods, and once their scales fully grew in after fifty thousand years of age, they became nearly invincible with even divine weapons and sharp blades unable to penetrate. Because of this, the Zhuyin Clan had an extremely great weakness—their injuries healed dozens of times slower than ordinary divine clans, even hundreds of times slower. Otherwise, with Zhongshan Dijun’s abilities, why would his injuries still linger to this day with his divine power unable to recover?

“Princess, for these injuries to completely heal will require thirty years.”

Xuan Yi was shocked: “Thirty years?!”

This was just an ordinary injury from being torn by barbed hooks. The wound was a bit deep, but it would take thirty years to heal?!

Qi Nan said softly: “This is the fate of the Zhuyin Clan. Dijun’s injuries have lingered for thousands of years. The princess’s childhood incident was also…”

Xuan Yi was stunned: “I was injured in my childhood?”

Qi Nan regretted his slip of the tongue and smiled slightly: “The princess has forgotten? That’s understandable. At that time the princess was still small and hadn’t quite learned cloud-riding and wind-controlling yet, so she fell from a tree and lay in bed for a hundred years.”

Had that happened? Xuan Yi tilted her head and tried hard to remember, but had absolutely no impression of it. Divine clans could remember things from birth—it shouldn’t be like this. How could she have forgotten?

Qi Nan began to change the subject: “Princess, I believe Baize Dijun is perhaps advanced in years and acts quite muddleheaded. Rather than properly transmitting the Dao and teaching his profession, he’s made his disciples into servants. Having encountered such a fierce demon clan in the lower realm this time, if things continue this way, there will inevitably be concerns for your life in the future. Would the princess be willing to seek another renowned teacher?”

Xuan Yi said flatly: “Didn’t we agree with Father back then that Baize Dijun was the best choice?”

“In this matter I was negligent—beneath his great fame he was actually inadequate. If the princess is unwilling, then let’s put the matter of taking a teacher aside for now. As the princess said, it’s still early before you turn fifty thousand years old, so there’s no rush for these things. It will also save me from worrying and fearing for you every day.”

He had thought the princess would certainly joyfully agree, but unexpectedly the corner of her mouth curved down and she revealed a mocking smile instead: “You want to have me withdraw from studies?”

Qi Nan immediately froze. He remembered that day when he arranged for her to first meet Fucang Shenjun at Huahuang’s immortal island, her first response upon returning was also: You want to marry me off?

He had long since thoroughly understood the princess’s temperament and knew this was absolutely not docile obedience. She absolutely did not like having her life arranged at will—by anyone. He couldn’t help but lower his head and didn’t say a word.

After waiting a while, he heard this little princess who almost never said “want” or “don’t want” slowly say: “I won’t leave Mingxing Hall first. That Fucang… hmph.”

Her “hmph” was quite indignant. Qi Nan couldn’t help but be extremely astonished: “This time when the princess was injured, it was Fucang Shenjun who escorted you back all the way, and I heard that when the divine lord encountered the demon clan in the lower realm, he also protected the princess in various ways. Why does the princess have such great resentment toward him?”

Qi Nan felt he could no longer ignore the princess’s unusual aversion to Fucang Shenjun. From childhood until now, she had never been this persistently hateful of anyone. Generally speaking, the princess only had herself in her heart—she alone reigned supreme across the four wilds and eight wastelands. Now it had become “across the four wilds and eight wastelands, only Fucang is detestable.” It all felt very suspicious.

“Exactly where did Fucang Shenjun offend the princess?” Qi Nan asked carefully.

The places where he offended her were too numerous! That bastard never hesitated to use the greatest malice to speculate about all her actions, and never hesitated to use any rough means to attack her in both words and deeds. If she bit him once, the next moment he would certainly bite back more severely—always repaying grievances! Crude brute!

Who could experience for her the feeling of injuries not healing for thirty years? Unable to walk, unable to control wind, even turning over was strenuous. If Fucang hadn’t insisted on dragging her along, would she have ended up like this?

She didn’t care whether this was reasonable or not. She had never reasoned with anyone. She just disliked this fellow.

Seeing her cold face and silence, Qi Nan continued to ask carefully: “Then… what exactly does the princess want to do to Fucang Shenjun?”

She lowered her head to pick at the carved patterns on the rattan bed while saying: “I want to trample him flat.”

Based on his consistent understanding of her, Qi Nan finally had a sudden realization: “…The princess’s meaning is, you’re allowed to bully him and suppress him, but he’s not allowed to retaliate, is that right?”

Xuan Yi answered confidently without any guilt whatsoever: “Right.”

Qi Nan took a long, collapsing breath. He needed to calm down, otherwise he would really be angered to death by her.

But then this little princess’s voice softened again, calling to him coquettishly: “Let’s go, Qi Nan. Don’t stay in this wretched place anymore.”

Qi Nan looked at her seriously and shook his head. This little princess could be willful and unrestrained, but as a divine official and elder, he absolutely could not be willful: “After all, it was I who forced the princess to descend to the lower realm that led to this outcome. Dijun punished me to face the wall here for ten days. Only three days have passed so far. I cannot leave.”

Xuan Yi blinked her eyes and said slowly: “Father captured Feilian Shenjun three days ago too, and has been keeping him locked in the dungeon, sending a handful of bloodstained moon sand to Wangshu Palace every day.”

Qi Nan felt his hair was about to stand on end. He had only stayed in Dragon Sleep Valley for three days, and Dijun could do such an absurd thing!

No wonder the Zhuyin Clan had such a bad reputation outside—this whole family from top to bottom acted in sinister and devious ways! Even if Wangshu Shennu was unwilling to extract the barbs for the princess, how could Dijun use such methods? Others would make big problems small and small problems disappear, but not them—they wished they could blow things up to the point of death.

Qi Nan started running, when he suddenly heard Xuan Yi say lightly behind him: “Qi Nan, Qing Yan… there’s still no news at all?”

From when she left Zhongshan to go to Mingxing Hall to take a teacher until now, several months had passed. No matter how many letters she wrote to Qing Yan, there was no reply whatsoever. That damned Qing Yan—could something have happened to him?

Qi Nan sighed deeply: “Xiaolong Jun doesn’t even reply to the princess’s letters, let alone Dijun’s… Princess, please be at ease. Perhaps Xiaolong Jun has reached a realm of closed-door cultivation and rest. Sleeping for a thousand years in one dream is also a common occurrence. Let’s wait until this late winter passes. If Xiaolong Jun still has no news, I will naturally go to the Heavenly North to seek Xuanming Dijun.”

With both Dijun and the princess being unreliable members of the Zhuyin Clan, only he could work himself to exhaustion like a spinning top.