Xue Yu was now staying in a small courtyard within the City Lord’s mansion. With Chen Jianxi’s crimes exposed, the originally bustling mansion had fallen silent overnight. Lights were lit everywhere at night, occasionally startling birds from branches and treetops with fluttering wing beats, but beyond that, no human traces could be seen.

Thus t, he nights were drawn out exceptionally long and quiet.

Su You lifted his brush to write a few characters, then suddenly asked: “Do you and the Chi Shui Saint Son not get along?”

“There’s bad blood between us.” Since he would be working by her side in the future, encountering these people was inevitable. Xue Yu frowned slightly, as if thinking of something unbearable. Her gaze moved from the Xuzhou map to the window, and she pressed the corners of her lips: “Lu Chengze is someone who can’t distinguish priorities, loves to meddle in others’ affairs, and loves to be generous at others’ expense.”

“When you encounter him in the future, don’t pay him much attention.”

In her previous thousand-year life, Xue Yu had dealt with Lu Chengze many times and experienced life-and-death crises together. He was a typical inheritor taught by Chi Shui—in his eyes, the world was simply black and white.

To him, the Great Sealing Formation that suppressed Yedu was something worth applauding. He even always believed that Xue Yu crossing swords with Song Heng was merely a woman’s humiliated rage after being betrayed by a man.

If it were only that, Xue Yu wouldn’t be so repulsed by him—at most, they would simply have different paths and not work together. But this person—he didn’t understand causes and consequences, didn’t care about right and wrong, yet insisted on forcing himself to be a peacemaker, had to interfere in others’ affairs.

Simply put, his brain wasn’t quite right, making even communication difficult.

Her likes and dislikes had always been obvious, easily distinguishable without much thought. But there was one thing—perhaps related to her innate upbringing—even when facing people she detested, she would at most coldly say the person wouldn’t do, or simply handle them directly. This was true for Chen Jianxi, true for the Human Emperor—she wouldn’t waste extra words.

Only toward Lu Chengze would she use harmless little tricks. For her, this was rare.

Perhaps she had never realized it, but Su You had grown up in the marketplace, born in humble circumstances. Reading expressions and gauging people’s hearts had almost become his survival skill. Based on their time together, he roughly understood her usual way of doing things, so he could understand even better.

She had indeed been emotionally stirred.

If not because of Lu Chengze, then because of someone besides Lu Chengze.

The brush between Su You’s fingers paused again and again. After a long moment, he finally nodded and gracefully responded with a simple “alright.”

The next day, Jiu Feng arrived early at the City Lord’s mansion, followed by her magnificent ghost carriage. The gentle-faced peach blossom demon walked by her side, occasionally calling her name helplessly when unable to bear the noisy crows on the ghost carriage anymore.

When Xue Yu came out, she was dazzled by the dozen different types of flowers blooming garishly all over the ground. She remained silent for a moment, looking at Jiu Feng who was enthusiastically tying bells to the ghost carriage, then unconsciously frowned when she saw Su Yun, asking: “What’s going on?”

“Didn’t that old man from the village steal the Worldly Lamp and get arrested by the authorities?” Jiu Feng replied without looking up: “This little brat had no one to take him in. Early this morning, he went to the seaside to shed tears. I felt sorry for him and was afraid he’d starve to death, so I just brought him along for the journey. When we encounter a suitable sect someday, I’ll throw him in to learn something.”

Perhaps due to this family catastrophe, the previously energetic youth who had carried spring flowers and run swiftly was now visibly dejected and listless. Upon seeing Xue Yu, he only tugged at the corner of his mouth in a symbolic greeting before silently squatting behind Tao Zhi to stare into space.

Seeing this, Xue Yu couldn’t say much, only turning to warn Jiu Feng: “Since you brought him, keep an eye on him during the journey—don’t lose the person.”

Jiu Feng nodded carelessly, then clapped her hands and stood up, scanning the City Lord’s mansion a few times and asking: “Where’s that Buddhist woman from Northern Wasteland? Is she coming with us too?”

“Miss Jiu Feng.” Just as Jiu Feng finished speaking, Fo Nu’s smiling, gentle voice came from behind. She dressed simply as always, wore no heavy makeup, with only two female attendants following her, excessively low-key. When the corners of her eyes lifted, she was as gentle as spring wind: “I spoke a bit longer with Master Wu Neng and was delayed, arriving a bit late. I’ve kept Miss Jiu Feng and Miss Xue Yu waiting.”

Fo Nu was from the Buddhist sect, naturally carrying an aura that inspired trust. Combined with her polite speech and gentle personality, Jiu Feng didn’t treat her with the cold hostility and drawn swords she had shown when first meeting Xue Yu.

But due to the inherent status conflict between the great demons of the Demon Capital and Sacred Land inheritors, they couldn’t become warm either. Meeting with mutual nods was considered friendly.

“Knowing you’re late, be more proactive next time.” Jiu Feng lazily played with the red cord wound around her wrist: “Now that everyone’s here, let’s go.”

“I’ll say this first—no carriages.” Jiu Feng seemed to know what they were going to say, waving her hand magnanimously: “We’ll use flying spiritual treasures. Any fines for forcing through city barriers go on my account.”

Fo Nu, who had been about to speak, swallowed her words and nodded with a flowing smile: “Thank you for the trouble, Miss Jiu Feng.”

Thus, Jiu Feng’s gaudy ghost carriage rapidly enlarged before everyone’s eyes, almost growing into a row of well-arranged courtyards. On the long pearl curtain, tassels grew flowers of different seasons—red and pink flowers clustered together, competing to bloom charmingly as if seeking favor. The entire ghost carriage immediately displayed a kind of vulgar cuteness.

The ghost carriage swiftly passed over terrestrial mountains and waters, speeding toward the distance. Jiu Feng, bored, casually wove a swing to rock on, chatting intermittently with people squatting outside.

“Hey.” She looked toward the good-tempered Fo Nu and asked: “Since you’re rushing to complete missions, wouldn’t it be fine to bring more people? Knowing the mission is difficult yet charging in single-handedly—isn’t that wasting time?”

“I know what you want to ask.” Jiu Feng waved her hand, squinting carelessly: “Years ago, we all received Heavenly Mystery Books, too, but no one did the missions. When we couldn’t complete them, no one ever paid fines either. After a long time, they just disappeared on their own.”

Those great demons of the Demon Capital were all unruly, born with untamable wildness in their bones, naturally not taking the Sacred Lands seriously. Forget about doing missions to maintain world order—as long as they restrained themselves and didn’t cause trouble everywhere, that was already a blessing.

Fo Nu smiled helplessly. She explained: “Many matters the Heavenly Mystery Book assigns to us become harder to resolve with more people. Everyone talking at once scatters information, makes it impossible to grasp key points, and easily alerts enemies when handling affairs, actually wasting more time.”

“Not only that, mission difficulty often changes with the number of people, making handling even more troublesome.”

Like an originally four-and-a-half-star mission being forcibly dragged to five stars, with many burdens added—just thinking about that difficulty made one’s scalp tingle.

While they talked, Chao Nian was also speaking with Su You.

And from the moment she entered the ghost carriage, Xue Yu had buried herself in the innermost section with that map and several books recording Xuzhou’s history.

“Take this to the young lady.” Chao Nian produced a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve and handed it to Su You, wearing a bitter expression: “Investigation is investigation, but we can’t ignore injuries completely. What if we reach Xuzhou and encounter some troublesome demon requiring real combat—how could the young lady’s body endure it?”

Noticing Su You’s puzzled gaze, Chao Nian added with bared teeth: “The young lady won’t listen to us. She rarely uses these external things for healing.”

“If the young lady refuses to use it, try to persuade her—she should rest at least.”

When Su You lifted the curtain to enter the ghost carriage interior, Xue Yu was just closing one of the books. Hearing movement, she looked up, saw the porcelain bottle in his hand, and asked without surprise: “Chao Nian sent you?”

“The young lady should treasure her own body.” Su You glanced at the books piled beside her: “The Worldly Lamp matter isn’t urgent. These tasks could easily be delegated to subordinates.”

“Chao Nian?” Xue Yu shook her head: “They need to train properly for another two years. Give these tedious things to them, and within half a day they’ll all come crying back begging me for mercy.”

“I can help the young lady organize and compare.”

The little cub who had been so fierce on the Judgment Platform had retracted his claws and finally began showing hints of testing familial affection. Xue Yu looked up at him, sensing the aura within his body, and asked: “How many layers of Yedu’s heart method have you practiced?”

He had a foundation in cultivation, high talent, and was diligent—his speed definitely wouldn’t be slow. But even prepared mentally, when he softly spoke the word “four,” Xue Yu was still somewhat surprised, raising her eyebrow corner slightly: “Not bad.”

She particularly remembered that when Song Heng learned this method years ago, it took him a month to stumble reach the second layer.

“You’ve also worked hard during this time.” Xue Yu showed a hint of an unclear smile, like encouraging a child: “You’re still young and just recovered from punishment. Rest well during these two days of travel.”

“This medicine.” Xue Yu glanced at the bone-white small bottle, refusing decisively: “Tell Chao Nian to take it back and put it away.”

After speaking, she lowered her gaze and quietly continued reading, comparing place by place tirelessly, circling differences, repeating back and forth like this.

When Su You came out with the porcelain bottle unchanged, he unconsciously frowned for a moment.

Chao Nian ran over from afar, took back the bottle, then squatted in place, sighing with a worried, bitter expression.

“Why won’t the young lady use medicine?” Su You’s peach blossom eyes drooped downward, his speech seeming to always carry a composed unhurriedness that didn’t match his age.

“The young lady is a Spirit Array Master.” Now that he had Xue Yu’s regard and would stay by her side to work in the future, Chao Nian thought there was no need to hide anything, saying in a low voice: “You know about Spirit Array Masters, right? They emphasize comprehension of all things in the world. There are always many rumors outside saying every Spirit Array Master is naturally gifted with delicate spiritual power. Such statements are right, yet not right.”

“A Spirit Array Master’s body, compared to others of the same cultivation level, is like a doll that breaks at a touch. In terms of physical strength, it’s only slightly better than ordinary people.” Chao Nian spoke sentence by sentence: “Actually, this doesn’t matter much. As long as the realm difference isn’t too vast, under normal circumstances, others can’t even get close to a Spirit Array Master. But the young lady says Yedu cannot have an inheritor with obvious weaknesses and flaws.”

These years, the young lady has been very busy. She has to handle Yedu’s political affairs while taking Heavenly Mystery Book missions, simultaneously maintaining her array techniques without falling behind, and still find time to compete with those burly body cultivators.”

“To temper her body’s toughness and keep herself alert, unless it’s a life-or-death situation, the young lady basically won’t use medicine. No matter how much it hurts, she just waits for wounds to heal themselves.”

As Chao Nian spoke, his voice grew muffled: “My sister desperately cultivates and often feels guilty, thinking she can’t keep up with the young lady’s pace and can’t help solve her problems.”

“The burden on the young lady’s shoulders is really.” Chao Nian shook his head, his words becoming heavy: “Really too heavy.”

“Did the young lady tell you to go rest?” Chao Nian looked toward the youth sitting in flower and vine shadows against the light.

Su You nodded.

“She said the same to me, Liang Yan, and Qing Luo.” Chao Nian gloomily drew with his fingertip on the ground: “Actually, we couldn’t help much at all.”

“Everyone else is resting; only the young lady is busy by herself.”

Su You seemed suddenly stabbed by flashing, piercing bright light, suddenly unable to bear it and lowered his eyes.

These days, he hadn’t hidden his abilities, displaying himself like a peacock spreading its tail. She knew that those things Chao Nian couldn’t do could be completely entrusted to him.

Yet she didn’t, not even half a sentence.

He, Chao Nian, Qing Luo—to her, they were all half-grown youths needing care.

Only forgetting that she was merely a flower-like girl of her age.

Su You knew his own character—he was base, ruthless, unscrupulous, skilled at acting. He had to grit his teeth and crawl forward through blood to survive.

Therefore, in the previous hundred years, he had never felt half a moment’s compassion for anyone.

Only at this moment, standing in mottled light and shadow, he momentarily couldn’t distinguish what exactly this emotion was running wild in his body.