Li Ye tried to find a trace of unwillingness on her face, or perhaps the blank stare of someone being controlled.

There was none. She was smiling even more happily than when she was by his side, her almond eyes curved, her gaze sparkling, wearing that extremely ugly flower while skipping along holding Kan Ze’s hand.

He withdrew his gaze and let out a cold laugh.

Being fickle and easily attracted to novelty was a natural human flaw. As an immortal who had been cultivated from a mortal, she naturally couldn’t escape her inherent nature. Fine then—this would save him from her constant improper thoughts and presumptuous behavior toward him.

Unconcerned, Li Ye flicked his sleeve and continued following Xuan Shui forward.

After walking indifferently for a while, he stopped, his jaw tightening as his misty eyes darkened.

No matter how he thought about it, he felt somewhat displeased.

It was one thing for his disciple to be poor at cultivation, but why had her taste deteriorated as well?

“Supreme God?” Xuan Shui turned his head to look at him, saying delightedly, “Are you feeling unwell somewhere? This minor immortal mentioned earlier that your constitution conflicts with this place, and with the numerous barriers near the Upper Ren Palace, it truly is…”

…

…

Before he could finish speaking, he felt a burning sensation in his throat.

This pure immortal power was so intense that one could feel the bone-searing heat without even being touched.

Xuan Shui swallowed hard, instantly suppressing his smile. With lowered eyes, he raised his hand submissively: “Please come this way. Ahead is the Anhe Boundary.”

There were eight layers of barriers surrounding the Upper Ren Palace, named Anhe.

Li Ye looked up, just in time to see the faintly visible ice lotus flower patterns on the barrier.

The petals were unfurled, like a beauty lifting her veil, graceful and elegant.

“The ice lotus flower was created by Supreme God Kan Ze ten thousand years ago, and later adopted as the Kan Clan’s token. No one except the direct immortals of the Kan Clan can transform it,” the tongue spirit bird explained from another direction, perched on Kan Ze’s shoulder, bobbing its head as it explained to Er’er. “The ones worn by the various immortals now are merely imitations from low-level illusion techniques—they have the form but not the essence. Only the one on the young lady’s head possesses both form and essence, with considerable spiritual energy.”

Er’er, who was hurrying along, unconsciously reached up to touch her head upon hearing this.

It was just a lotus flower, not something unavailable in the mortal realm. Why make it a special token?

As if sensing her confusion, Kan Ze smiled, and the tongue spirit bird continued: “Everyone knows that lotus flowers bloom briefly and are difficult to observe for long. Many immortals of the Kan Clan have written poems and prose about this, expressing melancholy sighs. When Supreme God Kan Ze heard of this, he specifically waited for a month to see the lotus flowers bloom in the garden.”

“That’s quite an elegant matter,” Er’er listened with interest. “And then?”

“Then the Supreme God used his newly practiced three-foot ice-freezing technique to freeze all the lotus flowers at the moment of blooming, refuting the saying that lotus flowers bloom only briefly.”

Er’er: ??

Can’t he be a good sport?

She had thought there would be some touching love story with twists and turns, but it turned out to be such a simple and brutal application of immortal techniques.

Er’er silently denounced Kan Ze harshly in her heart.

Perhaps knowing he was being ridiculous, Kan Ze remained dormant without offering a single word of rebuttal. Only when they reached the edge of the Anhe Boundary did he speak softly: “Don’t disturb anything around you. Wearing this ice lotus flower, with Kan Ze’s help, you can enter directly through the small south gate.”

Er’er nodded, just about to turn and ask Kan Ze where the south gate was, when she heard the tongue spirit bird say: “Come here.”

Kan Ze looked at her with gentle eyes, gesturing for her to go to the palace wall.

Er’er obediently moved over. As soon as she stood in place, she saw a flash of white light before her.

Kan Ze extracted the essence from the ice lotus flower with a stream of immortal energy. The essence met water and dispersed into mist, overlapping with the faintly visible patterns on the barrier.

The barrier suddenly opened, and she smoothly entered the Upper Ren Palace through the south gate.

Once inside, Er’er realized that Supreme God Li Ye was truly a frugal immortal. Although the Upper Bing Palace was magnificent, it was just a simple palace. Unlike this place, which had pavilions, towers, and scattered palaces no less impressive than those of mortal emperors.

However, while the luxurious appearance was identical to an imperial palace, some aspects were amiss. Palace architecture typically followed feng shui principles: avoiding main halls directly facing rapid currents, avoiding corridors that were too short with too many turns, and avoiding shade-giving locust trees in the courtyard.

This Upper Ren Palace had violated all these taboos. If it weren’t a divine palace in the immortal realm, it would resemble an inauspicious tomb.

After examining it curiously for a moment, Er’er shook her head. Never mind—it wasn’t as if she would live here.

She should first find that ginkgo tree in the southwest.

Kan Ze remained standing outside the palace wall, looking at the patterns on the barrier thoughtfully.

The tongue spirit bird stood on his shoulder, about to voice his thoughts, but as soon as its small beak parted, its owner fitted it with a soft cord.

Some words shouldn’t be spoken aloud. Kan Ze smiled, stroking its small head, planning to return to the blue-tiled small residence first.

His water-blue cloud boots turned in a different direction. After just a few steps, a tremendous sound came from behind.

Crack—

The supposedly impenetrable Anhe Boundary, like an egg being shattered, split open with several winding cracks.

Kan Ze faltered, turning back in disbelief.

The Anhe Barrier had been personally set by Kan Ze, consuming considerable immortal power. Even when fire meteors fell from the sky in the past, it hadn’t been damaged in the slightest—it was the number one defensive treasure in the Nine Heavens.

Yet now, it had cracked.

The cracks weren’t obvious and healed in just a moment, so quickly that one might think it was an illusion. But Kan Ze was close enough to hear it.

Someone had forcibly broken through the barrier, and not just anyone.

He hurriedly focused his divine sense, looking carefully, but could only see the purple aura where the barrier had resealed itself.

As the massive barrier cracks healed behind him, Li Ye grabbed Xuan Shui, walking urgently and quickly.

His face was smeared with some of the immortal energy from the shattered Anhe Barrier. Xuan Shui’s expression was somewhat dazed. Being dragged along, he stumbled several steps before coming to his senses, stammering: “Supreme God, forcing your way in like this will likely alert many people.”

“Forcing my way in?” Li Ye looked at him in confusion. “Wasn’t it True Lord you who invited me to visit?”

Xuan Shui: “…”

How shameless—who breaks down the door when visiting as a guest?

Xuan Shui attempted to reason with him: “With Kan Ze absent, no one else has the right to act as host here, including this minor immortal.”

“In that case, I shall move quickly,” Li Ye patted his shoulder considerately. “The sooner I find that key, the sooner the True Lord can breathe easy, avoiding being labeled a traitor and bound to the soul-severing platform.”

True Lord Xuan Shui’s face turned green.

What sin had he committed? He had merely wanted to cultivate during the Sweet Rain Festival. How had he been caught by this monster?

If he gave him that key, the other Supreme Gods of the Kan Clan would surely flay him alive; but if he didn’t, Li Ye would flay him alive right now.

He was just a True Lord—why was he being dragged into these grudges between Supreme Gods?

On the verge of tears, Xuan Shui opened his divine sense, secretly looking at the location of the key.

It would have been better not to look—upon seeing it, his face turned even greener.

How was there some unknown minor immortal digging up the boundary-guarding divine tree in the Upper Ren Palace?

Someone as powerful as Li Ye had to sacrifice a third of his immortal power to break through the barrier, yet this busy little immortal was completely unharmed, holding a small iron shovel, crouching in a corner of the Upper Ren Palace, humming an off-key tune while digging the fresh soil around the divine tree.