It would be easy for herself to slip away—she could use a shape-shifting bug to change her face and sneak out through the back door of the residence without drawing attention. But Fu Lingchuan didn’t have such a treasure.

He whispered, “The best way would be to use the Mustard Seed Formation, but I lost one of the Sumeru Needles on Spiral Float Island and can’t shrink my form. We’ll need to find another way…”

Before he could finish, Feng Miaojun wiped her right index finger and produced a shiny silver needle, waving it before him.

“So it was with you!” Fu Lingchuan exclaimed with delight, then added with certainty, “So you were the one who broke the formation.”

She shrugged. “You were scheming against the entire island at the time. I didn’t want to perish in confusion alongside everyone else.” He had stolen the Crab Spirit to initiate the heavenly sacrifice ritual—if he had succeeded, would he have kindly waited a few hours? When the heavenly lightning struck, she wasn’t confident she could withstand it.

Fu Lingchuan sighed. “I thought my Mustard Seed Formation was flawless. How did you discover it?”

Even the Merman King had been deceived, and she wasn’t that skilled. Fu Lingchuan was simply unlucky to encounter a child with a high-powered metal detector. Of course, she wouldn’t reveal this secret and only smiled. “Just luck. I happened to detect a divine weapon buried nearby, and with one dig, I found it.” She opened her palm to reveal two tiny ants.

Fu Lingchuan wondered by what method she had taken the Sumeru Needle without anyone knowing. Seeing the ants, he realized, “Heart-devouring Ants—those are rare treasures.” How interesting. His cousin’s spiritual affinity had been tested in childhood and clearly showed she couldn’t cultivate, yet now her cultivation was profound, and she possessed so many surprising techniques.

Compared to the Heart-devouring Ants, Feng Miaojun was more reluctant to expose the existence of the whiteboard. She smiled and redirected the conversation: “Why does the King of Yan need another identity called the Lord of Yangshan?”

“How can a king easily leave the capital? At a minimum, it would cause unrest among the people,” Fu Lingchuan explained. “Yet the King of Yan’s cultivation is exceptional, and he doesn’t wish to be confined to Taiping City. So he created the identity of Lord of Yangshan to travel the world, and as a result, he gained quite a reputation. Among high officials in court, this is an open secret. However, the common people aren’t informed, to prevent panic.”

He was truly remarkable—even a casual alias had become famous throughout the world.

Feng Miaojun asked admiringly, “How high is his cultivation, exactly?”

“They say it’s not below that of the former Emperor Li of the Hao Li Dynasty,” he added, “but that’s just hearsay. After all, no one has faced both of them in battle to give a true comparison.”

Feng Miaojun was surprised. “Was Emperor Li that formidable?”

“The first few emperors of the Hao Li Empire were all quite extraordinary. Later, as spiritual energy waned, several emperors couldn’t cultivate it. But Emperor Li was a brilliant figure who, even in times of scarce spiritual energy, attained cultivation rivaling his ancestors and even repelled a large-scale invasion of celestial demons. Otherwise, the human realm would have been devastated long ago.”

Fu Lingchuan smiled as he continued, “Storytellers and playwrights like to embellish Emperor Li’s tales, not only because his life was filled with countless deeds but also because he was incomparably handsome—the dream lover of countless women. One year, while hunting, he encountered a giant monster and didn’t return for a long time. Even the army couldn’t find him. When news of his disappearance reached the capital, rumors transformed it into his death. Yingshui City was filled with weeping, and dozens of women took their own lives out of devotion.”

Feng Miaojun chuckled. It seemed that fangirls existed regardless of time or space.

As they finished talking, the carriage returned to Songlan Residence.

Fu Lingchuan left to work on his escape plan while Feng Miaojun hurried back to her quarters and dismissed the servants. She summoned the Liquid Metal Monster and Soul-devouring Ants to scan the surroundings, confirming she wasn’t being monitored. Then she set up another barrier before finally allowing herself to contain her wild excitement as she took out a small vial from her storage ring.

It was an oval crystal vial, only thumb-sized but exquisitely crafted, with even the stopper inlaid with gold.

Inside was a single drop of liquid, not even covering the bottom of the vial, yet Feng Miaojun gazed at it with burning intensity.

Golden Branch Jade Dew.

This was the Golden Branch Jade Dew obtained from the King of Yan, blessed by the celestial gods—a single drop could break any curse in the world.

Once she drank this drop, the karmic connection between her and Yun would be completely severed, and from then on, they would each find their peace.

Hmm, why did this thought bring a slight twinge of sadness?

Feng Miaojun shook her head, driving away these inexplicable emotions. She carefully recalled every detail of how Spiral Float Fisherman had consumed the Jade Dew to become the Purple Rakshasa. Confirming she hadn’t missed any steps, she cautiously opened the stopper and tilted her head back to let the drop of Jade Dew fall into her mouth!

Just one drop, worth hundreds of times its weight in gold.

Immediately, a cool sensation slid down her throat and spread through her internal organs. Feng Miaojun closed her eyes to carefully sense it, even detecting its power penetrating her blood vessels and bones, cleansing her body from the inside out.

This power was pure and clear, gentle yet irresistible. Feng Miaojun finally understood the meaning of “moistening things silently.”

Without question, this was genuine—the King of Yan hadn’t deceived her.

Given his status, he wouldn’t stop giving fake goods.

Even knowing that its effects didn’t include enhancing spiritual power, she still felt a joyful sense of rebirth.

After a long while, she opened her eyes.

The small marten formed by the whiteboard stood upright on the table, facing her. Its eyes held confusion, not understanding what she was doing.

“Was there any unusual phenomenon around me just now?”

The whiteboard shook its head in bewilderment.

“No rising smoke?” When the Purple Rakshasa’s curse was dispelled, everyone had seen it.

“No.”

Feng Miaojun’s heart sank. She had hoped for too long and now felt too afraid to check internally, but she had no choice but to take a deep breath and focus her attention on the mark in her dantian…

Wait, why was the mark still there?!

She examined it carefully and found that the mark’s size and shape remained unchanged—the lines hadn’t even faded slightly.

She couldn’t help testing it, drawing a tiny bit of Yun’s spiritual power through the mark, and… it worked!

Feng Miaojun stood abruptly, grabbing a porcelain cup from the table and hurling it away.

With a crisp sound, the cup shattered completely.

The white marten was startled, its fur standing on end. It could tell that its master’s emotions were highly unstable—like fury mixed with disappointment, and perhaps dejection too?

It couldn’t be removed! Only these four words filled Feng Miaojun’s mind:

How is this possible?!

How powerful was the Ao Fish’s cultivation? It had been trapped at the bottom of the pond since youth, with Yun breaking its skull to take the pearl. Its cultivation clearly couldn’t match that of semi-divine beings like the Spiral Crab, possibly not even the Merman King.

How could the dew blessed by celestial gods, capable of breaking all afflictions, fail to remove the Ao Fish’s curse?

Feng Miaojun’s composure was usually excellent—the whiteboard rarely saw her lose control like this. Now she folded her arms on the table and buried her face in them. It watched with concern: “Mistress?”

How could drinking just one drop of water make the mistress so distraught?