Five days later, in Weizhou in the southwest, at the Flowing Sand River.

Everyone knew that after Pilgrim Xiang An’ge broke through, he carved out a domain for himself as king, called the Boundless Nation. Rumors said it was at the end of the forest mist, others said it was beyond the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, and some even claimed it was in the sky.

Only those who received an invitation could enter the Boundless Nation’s domain. Those who trespassed never returned.

Ming Li, however, knew that the Boundless Nation was in the southwest, following the flow of the water.

The Flowing Sand River was deep and wide, with high mountains on both sides blocking the sun. In the morning mist, a small merchant ship of some scale appeared and disappeared. Standing at the bow, a young woman in a goose-yellow dress looked down at the rippling water. Today, two more people had joined those following her.

From Zhu Que State to Weizhou, people had been following her all along the way, but they only observed and none dared to make a move.

This was because she had once been a Pilgrim with Eight Meridians at Full Boundary, had even died and come back to life, caused a great disturbance at Nan Que, killed a Nan Que academy master, shattered the Boundless Mirror with two arrows, and even locked Cui Yaocen in the mirage sea, from which she had yet to emerge.

With these premises, even knowing that the person before them was only at Single Meridian Full Boundary, no one dared to approach her easily.

Moreover, she was no longer at Single Meridian Full Boundary. Those following Ming Li had watched with their own eyes as she broke through the final stage of the Yin Meridian yesterday, and now she was at Dual Meridian Full Boundary.

Not to mention that moving against Ming Li now would be equivalent to declaring war on Bei Dou. Nan Que had been thoroughly slaughtered inside and out, worse than Bei Dou years ago, while Bei Dou was showing signs of rising again. Many people had to carefully weigh their options.

Ultimately, what prevented them from acting was their fear of Ming Li.

Her gift was people’s fear.

Ming Li didn’t bother with the people following her because she knew they wouldn’t dare to act. As long as they didn’t come looking for trouble, she pretended not to see them.

As a puppet, Qing Ying couldn’t endure the bumpy ride in a carriage, but fortunately, the only way to the Boundless Nation was by water.

Qing Ying sat quietly in the cabin, while Jiang Ying was tied at the stern with a wooden box beside her. Cui Yuanxi, who had his four limbs chopped off, was confined in the wooden box with only his head exposed, his face covered in blood.

Occasionally, when Qing Ying pressed the doll with too much force, Cui Yuanxi would feel his internal organs being squeezed, causing him to spit blood or acidic fluid.

Ming Li worried about what to eat every day.

Looking at this river, there were only fish to eat.

After absorbing star power early in the morning, she looked at the dead fish in the bucket and rubbed her nose, wondering if she could ask those following her for some food.

Ming Li poked at the fish with its eyes rolled back, and caught a glimpse of black from the corner of her eye. She turned back with delight.

Zhou Zixi stood by the boat, frowning slightly as he looked behind, “Senior Sister, why are you letting so many small fry follow you?”

Ming Li smiled with narrowed eyes, “Don’t mind them. Once we enter the Boundless Nation’s territory, Xiang An’ge will drive them away.”

Zhou Zixi turned to look at her, his gaze moving from her face to the water bucket. Seeing the dead fish, he snorted with laughter.

“You’re making food?”

Ming Li said, “Not yet.”

Zhou Zixi said, “I remember you don’t know how, Senior Sister.”

Ming Li nodded, “Since you’re here, even as a shadow, you can make some food, right?”

Zhou Zixi stood still without moving.

Ming Li looked up at him.

Zhou Zixi remained unmoved.

Ming Li said, as if sighing, “You used to make food for me.”

Always taking care of her, how nice, successfully raising Senior Sister into a daily waste.

Zhou Zixi said, “That was before.”

“Before and now are no different, it’s all the same,” Ming Li sat down next to the water bucket, hugging her knees in a docile posture, looking up at him. “After making breakfast, help me braid my hair, too. I bought hairpins and hair ties when I left Zhu Que State.”

Zhou Zixi snorted with laughter, as if she assumed he would do it.

About half an hour later.

Zhou Zixi: “You want to eat fish that’s been dead all night? Let’s catch another one.”

*

Ming Li sat with her junior brother at the edge of the boat, with the fishing rod standing between them. As the boat moved forward, the fishing line kept swaying.

After a long while without catching anything, Zhou Zixi began to mutter, “Why didn’t you just buy some when you left Zhu Que State?”

Ming Li said, “Buy fish?”

Zhou Zixi glanced at her, “Buy food, not just fish.”

Ming Li answered honestly, “I was in a hurry to take Qing Ying to the Boundless Nation, no time.”

Zhou Zixi: “Is she that important?”

Ming Li nodded, “Definitely more important than buying food.”

Zhou Zixi maintained a cold face without speaking. Ming Li tilted her head to look at him. “You’re important too.”

Her junior brother lifted his eyelids slightly, asking casually, “More important than buying food or more important than taking Qing Ying to the Boundless Nation?”

Ming Li heard this and laughed, “You’re the most important.”

The old Zhou Zixi would have been overjoyed to hear this, but now he remained languid, his eyes showing no fluctuation.

“Senior Sister, you won’t catch anything this way.” After he spoke, he directly used the Eight Meridian Formation to blast the fish. The underwater explosion startled the people tracking Ming Li from a distance. They all looked toward the wooden boat on the river, only to see the former Pilgrim using a fishing net to scoop up fish.

These trackers busily passed messages and discussed among themselves: Even a Pilgrim has days when she can’t catch fish and has to blast the pond!

“Stop blasting, stop blasting, we can’t eat so many,” Ming Li scooped up fish while trying to persuade Zhou Zixi. “Dead fish left out will…”

“They’re just stunned, not dead.” Zhou Zixi was about to tell her to scoop up more to keep as reserves, but then remembered his senior sister had no talent in this area, so he didn’t say it.

If Ming Li were to keep fish, the one in the bucket earlier wouldn’t have died overnight.

Ming Li returned with a fully loaded fish bucket. Back in the ship’s kitchen, all the tools were complete, as this was a merchant ship she had seized from the Jiang family, and there were still many goods onboard that could be sold.

Zhou Zixi rolled up his sleeves. Ming Li confidently entrusted everything to him, “I’ll go check on Qing Ying.”

After leaving Nan Que, without sufficient star power to nourish her, Qing Ying’s Spiritual Court meridian recovery had slowed down. She still couldn’t express herself to the outside world, only occasionally moving a finger, her eyes still hollow and gray.

Ming Li touched her face, only letting go after confirming there were no cracks that needed mending.

“Zixi is making food in the kitchen. You can’t see him right now, and he speaks very harshly, which might hurt you, but he doesn’t mean it. He can’t control it now.” Ming Li knew Qing Ying could hear, so she chatted with her for a while.

Qing Ying listened attentively, desperately trying to give her feedback, but nothing happened.

After speaking, Ming Li patted her head, “Don’t rush, take it slow. You’ll get better.”

*

Since breaking through to become a Pilgrim, Ming Li rarely left Bei Dou. She only paid attention to major world changes, completely unaware of things like popular foods, silks, jewelry, and so on, this year.

Most of what she knew came from Qing Ying or her brother when he returned from his travels.

Chen Zhou would visit her regularly for meals, occasionally mentioning new delicious foods outside, how tasty they were, and what made them unique.

“Like this round pot divided in half, with spicy broth on one side and non-spicy on the other, with fire constantly burning underneath. You can put in the potato slices and beef slices you like, cook them, and scoop them out to eat at any time. Some call it ‘antique soup,’ others call it ‘hot pot.'” Chen Zhou told Ming Li about the popular eating style in Bei Dou this year. “Every restaurant in Seven Star City has it now. Why don’t you make time to go out and try it together someday?”

Ming Li listened with distress, pondered for a moment, and said, “Tomorrow I need to help Tian Ji adjust the natural formation array there, the day after I need to research Shu Sheng’s miraculous abilities, then Yuan Lu’s, after that I need to repair the natural formation array at Yao Guang Academy, one month of meditation, I haven’t looked at the artifact technique puzzle Xiang An’ge asked me to solve, and I haven’t adjusted the bowstring of the Divine Wood Bow yet…”

Chen Zhou interrupted her, “You’re that busy?”

Ming Li nodded.

Chen Zhou said in disbelief, “You’re so busy yet you still have time to teach Zixi the Eight Meridian Formation every day?”

Ming Li nodded again and said, “I still have time for that.”

Recently, the hot pot craze in Seven Star City has caused some disciples to go to the city every day. They would return with the smell of broth, making the disciples who couldn’t go out howl with envy.

During that month’s regular meeting of Bei Dou’s seven academies, the representative disciples all made suggestions focused on the dining hall, trying to get hot pot introduced there.

During this time, Ming Li ate alone for the first time in a long while, since her senior and junior brothers and sisters had all gone to Seven Star City to eat hot pot. She thought Zhou Zixi had gone too, but he knocked on her door, standing outside with a big smile.

“Why didn’t you go with the others?” Ming Li asked.

Zhou Zixi brought her spicy buns, sat across from her at the table, and said, “Because I wanted to go with you, Senior Sister.”

Ming Li said worriedly, “That’s a bit difficult, I don’t have time recently.”

Zhou Zixi rested his chin on one hand, smiling with narrowed eyes, “Senior Sister, no rush. We can go whenever you have time. Senior Brother and the others just find it novel; once the novelty wears off, they’ll come back to make sure you’re eating properly.”

In his heart, he wished Chen Zhou and the others would keep eating out and never come back, so he could have time alone with his senior sister. But he couldn’t say that, of course. Instead, he had to reassure Ming Li that Chen Zhou was just excited about the novelty.

Ming Li asked, “Have you tried it?”

Zhou Zixi shook his head, “Not yet.”

Ming Li stood up, “Then let’s go together.”

Her junior brother looked up at Ming Li, who had stood to invite him, his Adam’s apple bobbing for a moment.

Eating hot pot with Senior Sister was something Zhou Zixi didn’t want to share with anyone else. So he told no one, took his senior sister into Seven Star City, avoided the restaurant where Chen Zhou and the others were, and ordered a table full of food for Ming Li.

At first, when Ming Li heard Chen Zhou describe it, she thought this way of eating would be complicated. But now she just needed to sit there and wait for Zhou Zixi to tell her what she could eat.

They packed quite a bit to take back, only to encounter Chen Zhou and his group at the gate, who had also finished hot pot and were carrying packed food for Ming Li.

After a moment of silent confrontation at the gate in the cold night wind, Ming Li grabbed Zhou Zixi and ran, with Chen Zhou chasing behind them, shouting, “I thought you were very busy?!”

*

In the wooden boat’s kitchen, Zhou Zixi worked while complaining, not even thinking about why he was doing this. He could have simply disappeared and not cared, but his mind wouldn’t even consider that option.

He boiled fresh fish soup, fried fish cakes, and when he went to call Ming Li to come and make do with the meal, he sprinkled spicy powder and prepared a new spicy sauce for her.

Some things seemed to be engraved deep in his soul, not washed away, not discovered, only slowly awakening after meeting Ming Li.

Zhou Zixi stared at the food he had prepared on the table, lost in thought, then lowered his gaze to look at his open hand.

Ming Li came over, attracted by the smell.

She looked at the fried fish cakes on the plate and said, “They’re a bit burnt.”

Zhou Zixi: “Senior Sister, don’t be picky. It’s already quite good that I can do this now.”

What do you expect from a half-blind person frying fish cakes?

Ming Li raised her hand and waved it in front of his eyes. “Is there something wrong with your eyes?”

Zhou Zixi said casually, “No, my eyes are fine. I burnt them on purpose for you.”