Lord Kaixuan was very melancholy and very tragic. He decided to drink alone under the moon, raising his cup to the shadows to make three companions. Watching his forlorn and pitiful state, I wanted to go over and leave a few words of comfort, but I felt that the immortal under the moon was quite beautiful—if someone had to be inserted into the scene, it shouldn’t be me holding a tiger cub. After thinking about it, I decided not to be a brooding hen and prepared to leave with Xuanyue.

But after just two steps, I saw Second Sister appear behind Lord Kaixuan.

The cool moon shone through the window. Second Sister stood by the water holding a lantern, her crimson dress sash like rosy clouds. For a moment, with pine winds and stream stones, the sound of激激flowing water, it naturally formed a scene of autumn moon and spring breeze. Witnessing such a beautiful silhouette, Lord Kaixuan cast an even more sorrowful look, appearing quite pitiful: “Do you know that to you, I am merely someone you’ve just met? But to me, Princess Liuying has long been the beauty of old dreams.”

Second Sister said confusedly: “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Previously, I had already seen the Second Princess in the Kingdom of Dayou. This time coming to Suozhao was also for the Second Princess.”

Lord Kaixuan removed the hairpin from his head and opened his palm. It glowed and rose into the air, transforming into a scroll. The scroll slowly unrolled with glowing orange light, revealing a painting of a red-robed beauty. In the painting, Second Sister was holding a bamboo basket, crossing the river by boat, picking water chestnuts. Not only Second Sister, but I was surprised.

“The uneven water chestnuts drift left and right. The graceful lady, I seek in waking and sleeping.” Lord Kaixuan slowly recited, his tone sorrowful. “Seeking but not obtaining, I think of her waking and sleeping. Leisurely, ah, tossing and turning…”

The silence lasted for a long time. Second Sister, always gentle, said cruelly: “I’m sorry. I cannot marry you.”

“Because I am not of the Suozhao clan, is that right?” Seeing Second Sister remain silent, Lord Kaixuan continued: “Suozhao has royal laws—the heir to the throne must be of the Suozhao clan, and descendants must also be pure Suozhao clan members, correct?”

Second Sister closed her eyes: “…Yes.”

Lord Kaixuan seemed unable to bear this torment any longer and gritted his teeth: “Then, has the Second Princess considered the blessing of齐人?”

Wow, wow, wow! Sister beauty, what great fortune! To have a handsome immortal voluntarily offer himself, multiple husbands serving one wife! I clenched my fists, having already said “yes yes yes” a hundred times in my heart for Second Sister, never expecting to hear: “Don’t be ridiculous.”

God Cangying, what’s ridiculous about it, what’s there to be ridiculous about! Second Sister, have you been possessed by Royal Brother? Such a good thing, yet you won’t agree. At least have a nephew with an immortal bloodline, so when my Xuanyue grows up, it will have a companion… wait, this seems somewhat inappropriate?

Regardless, words could not express my disappointment. In my excitement, I accidentally squeezed Xuanyue. So it’s crying startled Second Sister and Lord Kaixuan.

The result was that Second Sister dragged me back to her sleeping quarters and scolded me thoroughly just like Father King and Fu Chenzhi. Xuanyue and I both sat on the ground, obediently listening to her finish scolding, then I said: “Sister, you still quite like Lord Kaixuan, don’t you? Then let him marry into the family.”

Second Sister became even angrier: “If others said this, it would be one thing, but Weiwei, even you don’t understand Second Sister’s heart?”

“I truly don’t understand.”

“For the sake of the Suozhao royal bloodline, if I want to inherit the throne, I definitely cannot marry Lord Kaixuan. At the same time, I cannot give up the throne either.”

I tilted my head: “Why not? Isn’t there still me?”

Second Sister looked at me, and after a long while, only sighed: “You go rest.”

I thought I had inexplicably angered Second Sister again and went back to discuss this with Mother Queen. Mother Queen shook her head: “Wei’er, you truly don’t understand Ying’er’s painstaking efforts. Your eldest sister has already left. If Ying’er follows in her footsteps, what impact would this have on you?”

I said: “No impact at all. Second Sister isn’t eloping—a proper marriage with matchmaker and ceremony would be perfectly appropriate.”

Mother Queen said, “No, you would think the throne is a mess that needs you to clean up. Even when your turn comes to inherit, you’d probably have ten thousand reluctances in your heart. Furthermore, she simply hopes you’ll marry well. For daughters, marriage is ultimately the most important matter. If you encounter a non-Suozhao man in the future, you wouldn’t need to worry so much and could marry smoothly, couldn’t you?”

So there was such reasoning—Second Sister was truly my good second sister. I was so moved, I wanted to run and embrace her. After thinking more, I said: “Then why doesn’t Second Sister accept the blessing of齐人?”

“Weiwei, you’re still a child after all. The Suozhao clan has always practiced monogamy. Think about it—if your second sister married two men, forget about stopping the people’s gossip, how would she explain this to her Suozhao husband? Should she tell him, ‘I married you just to have children’? After having children, how would she explain to the children? These are all problems. Better to cut through the mess quickly now, endure short-term pain rather than lifelong agony.”

The adult world was truly troublesome. This was my greatest life insight of the day.

In the following days, seeing Lord Kaixuan lingering long, courting by day and drowning sorrows by night, truly embodying “growing thin for love without regret,” I thought this even more. However, Second Sister’s heart seemed made of iron mixed with stone—no matter how he tormented himself, she showed not the slightest wavering.

Two months passed, and Lord Kaixuan finally became disheartened, bid farewell to Father King, and left Suozhao.

Additionally, after the Grand Priest’s death, we unexpectedly discovered that all the scriptures were blank. The immortal realm path we were supposed to open also became a mystery. During this period, Father King ordered strengthened city defenses—any foreign tribes wanting to enter Suozhao must first be searched and registered, and if they caused trouble within the territory, they would be completely expelled and forbidden entry for fifty years.

Thus, peaceful days passed for several more months. I still attended Xuan Study Hall with my little companions daily, and Hanmo remained as irresponsible as ever.

One day, the teacher had us copy literary compositions. The passage happened to be a composition written by Beixiang during King Ling Jing’s reign:

“In former days, Jiuzhou’s maple steps were covered in dust, royal tombs defiled. All common people suffered; temple courtyards were piled with white bones. Now the moon city hangs high with heavenly brightness, secretly harboring evil stars… Only Cangying protects us, preventing the disaster of tribal extinction…”

After reading this composition, I could only say that talented people often lack sense. As a Suozhao clan member, using mortal examples to warn the ruler, saying there were evil stars in heaven and disaster was coming, while begging Cangying God to protect Suozhao, as if all the peace and prosperity had nothing to do with the ruler—wasn’t this asking for his head to hang on his neck too long?

Naturally, after King Ling Jing saw this composition, he soon exiled Beixiang. The previous king Xijian was an enlightened ruler who not only lifted the ban on Beixiang’s compositions but also listed him among the Five Suozhao Worthies. So now we had to memorize texts daily with no peace.

However, seeing the phrase “moon city hangs high with heavenly brightness,” I suddenly remembered an old matter from years past: when I was captured by the Panlong, that anonymous youth who controlled dragons had also said the old place only had heavenly brightness—I wondered if this referred to the sky above our Suozhao. If so, this heavenly brightness had hung too long, from King Ling Jing to Father King… why hadn’t disaster arrived yet?

I told this thought to the teacher, and his face became like August weather, cloudy and uncertain for quite a while.

One day, I suddenly realized: having a crow’s mouth was truly not good.

Since Yinze established Suozhao, our great Suozhao had never seen war, remaining stable and peaceful for over a thousand years. Previously, we never would have imagined that the Suozhao clan’s first communication with immortals would be in our era.

Naturally, we also wouldn’t have imagined that the first invasion by foreign tribes would also be in our era.

In the depths of winter, northern winds swept the ground, snow filled the city, and Luoshui froze into a river of smoky ice in the extreme cold.

This night, Mother was teaching Second Sister embroidery, Xuanyue lay on my legs, and I knelt beside Father King, massaging his legs. Suddenly, soldiers came to report that all guards at Canghai Gate had been killed. Besides foreigners slaughtering innocents in the city, two cloud shadows had swept in. No one saw clearly who the invaders were, only knowing that countless deaths and injuries filled the city in a scene of devastation.

Hearing Canghai Gate had fallen, Father King was so shocked he stood up abruptly and, without a word, flew out on water.

Canghai Gate was Suozhao’s main city gate with the strongest defenses, yet it was broken through so easily—what kind of divine beings were these invaders? I quickly followed Mother Queen and Second Sister out.

Wind and snow raged chaotically, beacon fires for thousands of li, countless battle cries within the city. More terrifying still, in such a short time, the invaders had already reached the sky above Zichao Palace. They were two men: one a black-haired youth with three eyes, holding a writing brush, wearing yellow robes; one a white-haired elder with a beard reaching his waist, holding a horsetail whisk, wearing white Daoist robes. Both had bound hair and wore crowns, appearing cold and arrogant as they rode clouds floating high in the sky.

There was no water around them. Which meant they weren’t Suozhao clan members. And foreign tribes capable of flight themselves could only be…

“Who are you?” Father King raised his head and shouted. “We have no grievances with you two—why harm our Suozhao people!”

Compared to Father King’s fury, that youth showed none of a young man’s frivolity, only looking down at us disdainfully, calm as the bitter wind and snow: “Audacious demons, you have run rampant in the North Sea for over a thousand years, yet dare to be so arrogant and disrespectful, committing insubordination.”

“What… what? What nonsense are you spouting?”

Father King was a benevolent, enlightened ruler who had never been spoken to this way in his life—he was probably stunned. I wasn’t so easily bullied. Holding Xuanyue, I stepped forward angrily: “What are you anyway? How dare you speak to my father king, in such a tone! Calling us demons—we great Suozhao clan, consider you the demons!”

The youth half-closed his apricot eyes, filled with even more coldness. That elder was suddenly furious, waving his horsetail whisk: “Ignorant little water demon! Do you know whom you’re shouting at? I am Purple Constellation Ruyue Weng, Huangdao Immortal Lord. Today, I come under the immortal sovereign’s command to end your lives!”

Now, even I was dumbfounded.

These invaders were people from the immortal realm. How was this possible? Even an immortal of such profound magical power as Lord Kaixuan had treated us with humility and courtesy. They called us water demons, evil creatures?

I said: “What kind of joke is this! We are the water tribe blessed by the gods. My great Suozhao was established by the Divine Lord Yinze. You old fellow of unknown origin is the demon!”

Huangdao Immortal Lord said: “Little water demon, we merely come under orders to clean up menaces. If you repent and reform, you can still reincarnate and cultivate to become human again. If you continue speaking disrespectfully and slandering heavenly gods, beware your soul scattering, leaving no trace in the six paths of reincarnation.”

Ruyue Weng pointed his index finger and thumb at me, righteous and imposing: “Privately raising ancient fierce beasts, yet claiming not to be demons—simply laughable.”

I said: “I see no fierce beast, only see you’re a pile of dog shit on an ancient altar, despised by gods and ghosts alike.”

That old fellow was already infuriated by me, but Father King turned his head, looked at Xuanyue in my arms, and slapped his forehead: “This… a beast resembling a tiger, with wings capable of flight, devouring people, understanding human speech… I was foolish not to see that this little tiger cub is Qiongqi…”

Hearing the word “Qiongqi,” I too fell silent. This name wasn’t unfamiliar—I’d seen it countless times in books.

When Pangu separated heaven and earth and Nüwa created humans, Water God Gonggong and Fire God had conflicts due to “water and fire being incompatible,” fighting several great battles. On Earth, waves surged and fires roared with thunder. Finally, Gonggong was defeated and, in anger, struck Mount Buzhou with his head. The mountain collapsed, breaking the heavenly pillar and severing the earth’s foundation. After this, Nüwa used five-colored stones to mend the sky, and Gonggong died. But Gonggong’s tribal spirit was immortal, transforming into the fierce beast Qiongqi.

Qiongqi was the most evil beast. When it saw people fighting, it would eat the reasonable party; hearing of someone’s loyalty, it would bite off their nose; hearing of someone’s wickedness, it would hunt beasts to give as gifts.

Looking at Xuanyue’s appearance again, it curled up in my arms, holding its head with two fluffy little tiger paws, opening its watery big eyes to look at me innocently. Meeting my eyes, it even reached out a paw toward me. Precisely because it looked cute, I had overlooked its characteristics.

Previously, when Xuanyue occasionally displayed its power, I was somewhat vigilant but still underestimated it, thinking it would become a fierce beast when grown—it was already a fierce beast! Great God Cangying, protect me, I have raised a Qiongqi cub! What should I do?

Wait, this situation wasn’t right. If Xuanyue was truly Qiongqi, then its parents should also be adult Qiongqi—ancient fierce beasts of extreme brutality. How could they be captured by that pet shop owner? Even if he didn’t kill them personally, whoever captured Qiongqi should know how capable this cub was and wouldn’t casually let it escape.

I shouted: “Wait, I have more to say…”

“Demon, stop trying to delay!”

At this moment, Ruyue Weng waved his horsetail whisk left, and broken stones and dirt flew from all directions, gathering in the center of the bright moon. He waved the whisk right, and those stones and earth condensed into several massive hard rocks, spinning rapidly with flying sand and gravel at dazzling speed. Then he waved the whisk in our direction.

Those hard rocks seemed to fly from the moon, transforming into several daggers with cold, sinister light, stabbing directly at Father King’s vital points.

Father King immediately summoned water to protect himself, blocking part of the attack. The daggers slowed but still carved several bloody gashes on his body.

Though we had water-controlling power, it was limited to lifeless water—we couldn’t freeze blood or transform water into objects.

Therefore, throughout my life, the most powerful magic I’d seen was the “Great River Freezing Ice” demonstrated by the Spirit Arts Marquis during drills—freezing river surface water into ice, lifting entire thick ice blocks into the air, shattering them, and hurling fragments at targets. Though the original magical inspiration came from Cangying God, this required borrowing the river water’s power, and even for someone of extraordinary spiritual power like the Spirit Arts Marquis, it needed considerable time to gather strength.

However, for Ruyue Weng, transforming earth to stone and stone to daggers was merely the work of an instant. Only now did I finally realize how terrifying our enemies were. If they truly wanted our lives, it would take no effort at all.

“Stop!” I shouted. “Xuanyue isn’t a fierce beast—it’s just a pet I bought from an exotic beast shop. If it were truly so powerful, we couldn’t capture it at all!”

The two immortals turned a deaf ear. At this time, the Three Marquises also arrived with Suozhao soldiers for support. Huangdao Immortal Lord never moved, merely using magic to create fog walls blocking all attacks from our side.

Besides this, only Ruyue Weng faced us in battle. He merely waved his horsetail whisk left and right, and hundreds of soldiers died under his magic.

I had never seen people die before. In an instant, seeing my clansmen suffer, blood flowing like rivers, I was so shocked I could only huddle together with Mother Queen and Second Sister, wanting to cry but having no tears.

The Spirit Arts Marquis had profound magical power and barely confronted Ruyue Weng for a moment, but still fell defeated, covering his abdominal wound and kneeling on the ground. Seeing another wave of soldiers charge forward, Ruyue Weng tirelessly swept away thousands.

Huangdao Immortal Lord said, “No need to waste time. To catch bandits, first catch their leader. Kill that water demon chieftain.”

Ruyue Weng nodded, spun his horsetail whisk in a circle, causing all daggers and fragments on the ground to rotate briefly before gathering into a blue-edged long sword. Heavy snow swirled as the sword light was like snow, flying straight toward Father King!

Second Sister and I cried out in alarm simultaneously. However, the next mournful cry didn’t come from Father King, but from Mother Queen, who had somehow released us and run alone to block Father King. Her gaze was resolute as she caught the sword blade with her hand. All five fingers were severed, but she still couldn’t stop the sharp sword. That sword pierced through her chest.

“梓童!!” Father King wept and knelt, holding her tightly.

“Mother Queen!!!”

We wanted to rush over but were stopped by nearby General Marquis. He said: “Don’t go—you can’t help! You must preserve your lives at all costs, or Suozhao will have no successors! Stay here, don’t go anywhere!” Then he charged forward himself.

Drip, drip. Mother Queen’s fresh blood mixed with her fingers fell into the white snow. Her body trembled as she glared fiercely at the two immortals in the clouds, showing no fear: “Ugly… hypocritical, using harm elimination as an excuse to commit murder…”

The two immortals fell briefly silent. General Marquis ordered a hundred ice arrows fired, but they had no effect whatsoever.

Mother Queen spat out fresh blood, gripped Father King’s hand, her chest heaving violently, her chest garment soaked like snow into begonia color: “Your Majesty… don’t mind me, protect Ying’er and Wei’er well…”

Father King’s hands and garments were stained red. His eyes reddened as he answered heavily: “Yes!”

Huangdao Immortal Lord said, “Protesting while holding stolen goods, a cornered beast’s struggle.”

He flew forward a distance, waving his brush to write silver glowing runes in the air, then pushing these runes out with his brush.

The heavy snow seemed to stop for an instant as silver light filled the entire night sky.

We looked up to see something falling from the sky and earth like a scorching heavenly net… Even before it approached, we felt our skin burning. I held Second Sister, trembling in pain as despair enveloped us all.

But Father King stood up, ascending on water with arms spread wide. All of Suozhao’s water sources rose like smoke.

At this moment, whether Suozhao’s territory, floating island towns, Cangying God statues, or that bright moon in the dark sky, all seemed immersed in flowing water. The view was filled with flowing light and ripples, swaying like willow catkins, blurred into pure chaos.

In this confusion, I heard Ruyue Weng urgently say: “These demons, where did they hide?”

Huangdao Immortal Lord said, “Forget it, we can’t find them. This truly is Divine Lord Yinze’s magic. Old Yue, I’ve discovered something interesting…”