After a long while, Xue Yu withdrew her hands and stood up. Looking at the demon ghost sitting properly on the fur cushion with his long hair trailing on the ground, she pressed her swollen temples imperceptibly and spoke with no ripples in her voice: “He still needs some time. Chao Nian, watch over him.”

Chao Nian responded affirmatively.

The door creaked open outward, and the woman’s gentle footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Su You slowly opened his eyes. Frost-white silk threads still hung on his shoulders and hands. The moment his consciousness recovered, the first image he perceived was Xue Yu pressing her temples.

Her complexion was nearly a sickly white, clearly showing signs of excessive depletion.

He had thought she would at least wait for him to open his eyes and fully awaken before coldly telling him what great kindness she had bestowed upon him, then take the opportunity to warn and remind him to remember this favor and serve her from now on.

But there was nothing. Not a single word.

She said she would reconnect his meridians, and she truly only did that, finished and left without any hesitation.

Such a person, with such status, neither covets his appearance nor his inner core. Then why did she save him from the Judgment Platform, personally restore his meridians, and give him the finest medicine?

A demon ghost whose cultivation was completely abolished, with a lowly status. Not even worth as much as that Seven-Colored Pill he had swallowed.

Chao Nian put the Three Spring Pills they had prepared to use back in the bottle, then placed the jade bottle back on the large round table in the room.

The “clink” finally pulled Qing Luo’s soul back to reality. She looked at Su You, whose aura was several times stronger than before, then craned her neck to look in the direction Xue Yu had left, murmuring to herself: “I must always listen to the young lady from now on.”

She paused, then looked at Liang Yan: “I’ve never seen anyone like our young lady…” Her voice grew muffled and low, the last few words unable to come out.

But everyone in the room immediately understood her meaning.

Including the demon ghost who had just recovered his meridians.

Su You slowly stood up, his black and smooth long hair swaying as it fell gracefully beside his ears. He lifted his eyelids, revealing a pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes rippling with charm.

He had never seen such a person either.

So he couldn’t imagine that the princess, rumored to control the great prison of Yedu and suppress countless demon ghosts, would be like this.

Xue Yu walked out of the room, passed by red lacquered pillars painted with flying celestial buddhas, and stopped at the western corridor. Here the view was wide open – she could see the bustling lower two floors clearly with a downward glance.

On the stage set up on the first floor sat two girls with similar features but completely different styles. One held a zither singing softly, the other rose to dance with graceful posture. The audience grew excited, clapping and cheering, with waves of sound surging upward like flowing water.

A young attendant in the building, having received Liu Niang’s orders and seeing her interest, stepped forward to introduce in a childish voice: “Young lady, these two are Qian Xi and Qian Lu from our building. They’re twin sisters – one excels at singing, one at dancing. Because of their outstanding talents, they’re much pursued and loved by the wealthy young masters of Shanhai City.”

Xue Yu turned around, seeing that the young attendant was round and plump, only reaching her thigh in height, yet speaking in an old-fashioned manner that seemed quite proper. She couldn’t help but continue watching and asked: “Your mistress made a deal with Xihe Sacred Land?”

She thought she wouldn’t get an answer, but unexpectedly the young attendant’s eyes widened round, somewhat surprised as he said: “Naturally so. Does the young lady not know?”

Xue Yu changed her posture, showing she was willing to hear the details, then listened as the young attendant spilled out his family’s affairs like pouring beans: “This happened before I was born, but I’ve heard the sisters in the building mention it. Back then, something went wrong in Xihe Sacred Land, causing spiritual energy to leak out and affect many innocent mortals in the city. Since there was no immediate solution, the Sacred Land built this tower and sent several people to meet with the tavern owners in Shanhai City at that time.”

“Our mistress came over with the girls then.”

Xue Yu listened as if hearing a story, then said: “That’s quite unusual indeed.”

“From what I know, Xihe has never cooperated with outsiders.”

The young attendant lifted his chubby face with a confused expression. Xue Yu didn’t continue questioning, instead listening to him talk about other famous girls in the building.

Halfway through listening, Xue Yu’s sleeve suddenly felt a surge of warmth. She was slightly stunned, reached in to feel around, and pulled out a small scroll.

Seeing this situation, the young attendant very sensibly bowed and retreated to wait outside the corridor.

The scroll was only palm-sized when opened. The front had different figures drawn at each of the four corners – one corner showed a celestial maiden flying with a lute, another showed a kind-faced elderly man. These two were drawn vividly with all details outlined in gold patterns, giving a feeling like spring breeze. In comparison, the figures in the lower two corners were particularly dim. Except for the long wings trailing behind, one of them being somewhat noticeable, even their faces couldn’t be seen clearly.

Besides these four figures, three characters were dotted in the center of the scroll – Heaven’s Mystery Book.

Xue Yu had dealt with the Heaven’s Mystery Book since childhood and was extremely familiar with this situation. She only glanced at the figures on the front of the scroll before quickly flipping it over.

If the front of the scroll seemed ordinary, the back revealed its marvelous and ingenious aspect.

Dozens of columns of small characters densely floated through the scroll into mid-air, numerous but not chaotic, faintly glowing with spiritual light. Xue Yu reached out to brush across the scroll surface, and the characters on that side quickly faded, replaced by new ones.

This scene was extremely familiar to Xue Yu. She didn’t even need to think deeply – her fingers seemed to have their consciousness, sliding through several pages in succession, finally stopping on one of the most eye-catching lines in red characters, which read – “Western border of Jin region, Xiao Yu Village, wolf demon causing trouble.”

This was exactly the wolf demon that had been harming living beings that Xue Yu had subdued earlier – it had been dead for nearly ten days.

Xue Yu tapped that line, and in the next moment, it vanished from the scroll surface. Simultaneously, as if completing some task, a silver thread wrapped around her snow-white wrist spontaneously combusted and disappeared into the air in the blink of an eye.

The Heaven’s Mystery Book was one of the world’s most extraordinary objects. Its true body was enshrined in Xihe, the most mysterious of the Six Sacred Lands, but Sacred Land inheritors like Xue Yu, or certain disciples, elders, and sect masters from prestigious orthodox sects, mostly possessed such small scrolls in their hands – all small incarnations differentiated from the Heaven’s Mystery Book’s true body.

The scrolls encompassed all phenomena, with troublesome events from various places recorded on them. Senior practitioners wouldn’t act unless for major matters, but the younger generation had clearly stipulated quotas – over the course of a year, they had to take on several tasks no matter what.

Xue Yu remembered that the year she saved Song Heng, because she had stayed within Yedu city the previous year without taking on any tasks, a year and a half’s worth of tasks were compressed into a few months. So this year, right after the Lantern Festival, she had taken people to Xiao Yu Village.

This also caused the current situation where one task was completed, but the scroll didn’t immediately close and disperse. Instead, it remained suspended in mid-air as if waiting for something.

Xue Yu frowned, pondered for a moment, then reached out to tap the scroll twice. It soon produced countless points of spiritual light, with numerous lines of text jumping rapidly before her eyes, finally condensing into dozens of columns displayed before her.

She didn’t look through them line by line carefully, but with practiced movements pressed the spiritual light point attached to the very end of the Heaven’s Mystery Book. Those dozens of lines immediately disappeared without a trace, leaving only one sentence remaining.

Xue Yu focused her gaze to look.

【Ziwei Cave Mansion, eastern sea region, Worldly Lamp lost.】

When Xue Yu saw the three characters “Worldly Lamp,” she couldn’t help but frown. She flipped the Heaven’s Mystery Book to the front, and upon seeing the expected four stars, fell silent for a long time.

She seemed to never draw easy, simple tasks. Yin Ling had the best luck among Sacred Land inheritors – one-star and two-star tasks lined up to go her way. Besides her, others had a mix of easy and difficult tasks. Only she had never drawn a two-star task; three-star tasks piled up, and four-star tasks always liked to add insult to injury when time was tight.

With a four-star task, she might as well forget about completing this year’s tasks altogether.

As if knowing what she was thinking, the small scroll began to bounce up and down, urging her, making buzzing sounds.

Xue Yu looked coldly at the Heaven’s Mystery Book and didn’t move for quite a while.

Only when the Heaven’s Mystery Book finally settled down completely did she move her finger, slowly placing it in the middle of that line of text.

As she accepted this task, a silver thread bound around her finger, the spiritual light on the scroll dissipated, transforming into a small roll that dropped into Xue Yu’s palm with a “plop.”

Xue Yu returned to her room.

“Go call everyone over,” Xue Yu said to Qing Luo, who was guarding the door.

Before long, Liang Yan and the others had gathered together.

“Young lady.” Chao Nian quickly came forward, his face full of eager anticipation as he asked: “Are we going to complete Heaven’s Mystery Book tasks?”

“Mm.” Xue Yu responded, then said: “Liang Yan, go notify the people my father sent that this has nothing to do with them. Have them return to Yedu immediately.”

“Yes.”

Xue Yu’s gaze swept around the group, looking at the enthusiastic Chao Nian and asking: “You want to come along?”

“I’m following the young lady,” Chao Nian answered seriously. “Before leaving, elder sister repeatedly instructed me to stay by the young lady’s side and protect her.”

“Protect me?” Xue Yu’s beautiful eyes swept over the self-volunteering youth and asked: “What stage of Foundation Building are you at now?”

With three women standing in the room, Chao Nian felt somewhat embarrassed at being exposed this way by Xue Yu, scratching his head and grinning sheepishly.

“Prepare yourselves. We’ll set out after dawn for Ziwei Cave Mansion.” Xue Yu said, “Before that, Liang Yan, Qing Luo, go around the building and investigate matters concerning the eastern sea region of Ziwei Cave Mansion and the Worldly Lamp.”

Several people nodded solemnly and were about to leave when Xue Yu called out to them.

“Chao Nian, leak word to the imperial palace that the criminal who assassinated the human prince has been rescued by Chi Shui’s people.”

Chao Nian was startled, but seeing Xue Yu’s expression wasn’t good, he didn’t dare ask more questions. He took out a communication jade talisman to make arrangements.

People dispersed in small groups, leaving only Xue Yu and Su You, who had just had his meridians reconnected, in the room.

“What do you need me to do?” When the others were all present, he hadn’t said a word, only listening with lowered eyes, his well-formed hands resting at his sides. At first glance, he always gave the false impression of being easy to bully. Once the people left, he finally raised his eyes to look at Xue Yu and asked this question.

Xue Yu sensed the still chaotic energy within his body and said, “If I were you, on the first day after having meridians reconnected, I would obediently stay in the room and rest.”

Su You naturally knew this.

How to be better to oneself – who wouldn’t know?

But he had to be of some use.

That Seven-Colored Pill, and the spiritual power she had expended, had to have some value.

It must be said that this demon ghost had a very beautiful pair of eyes. After the gloom and murderous aura faded from them, his pupils became even more profound in color. He didn’t even need to use that face of his to make it impossible for someone to speak cold words of rejection.

But Xue Yu quickly looked away.

As if in a hurry, she frowned, then pulled out a booklet from her storage ring and placed it on the table, her voice still clear and cold: “Learn the first level within three days.”

After speaking, she didn’t bother to see his reaction and flashed out of the room.

Su You unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn’t used to owing anyone favors, nor did he want to, but since he already owed them, he could repay a little if possible.

He reached out to open the ancient parchment manual, thinking it contained detailed task introductions and things he needed to do.

But upon opening the first page.

The four large characters 【Yedu Secret Manual】 came into his view.

Su You’s movements froze. He flipped to the last page of the manual and saw written in small characters – “Heaven Character Formula.”

The youth’s beautiful peach blossom eyes completely stilled.

This person had given him the finest medicine.

Had him study the most advanced Sacred Land secret manual.

He had thought he could repay her something.

Instead, he owed more and more.