As if she had slept a very deep sleep, when Zanxing woke up, the sky was already bright.

Beneath her was a soft peach-pink mattress, and the room was filled with the familiar fragrance of magnolia—this was a bedroom in the Taiyan Sect. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. This movement startled the person beside her, who had been dozing. Hong Su jumped up with a start, and seeing Zanxing’s appearance, she exclaimed with joy: “Young Miss, you’re awake!”

Before Zanxing could speak, tears began streaming down Hong Su’s face. She grasped Zanxing’s hands with tear-filled eyes and said: “Young Miss has been unconscious for seven days and seven nights, scaring this servant to death! Wuu wuu, is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”

“Seven days and seven nights?” Zanxing was astonished.

Hong Su nodded vigorously.

Zanxing found it strange. That day, after she and Gu Baiying had broken through the mirage demon’s illusion, the Wudan Forest Desert had returned to its original appearance. Xuan Lingzi and Zi Luo had come to escort them back. At that time, she had felt severe pain in her palm and then fainted. It felt like she had only slept for a short while, but seven days had already passed.

She looked down at her palm, and her heart skipped a beat. The flower-shaped red mark on her palm was now very complete in shape, with colors that were vivid and dripping with intensity. Whenever she violated the established “Heavenly Way” and changed the development of the plot, this flower mark would become more complete. In Wufan City, she had been forced to burn the Xiaoyuan Pearl and intervene at a moment when she shouldn’t have stood out. Sure enough, the “Heavenly Way” had recorded another mark against her.

This was not a good thing.

Hong Su noticed her movement and asked curiously: “Young Miss, what are you staring at your hand for? Does it hurt?”

Zanxing withdrew her hand and changed the subject: “Where are the others?”

“After Young Miss and the others returned, Master summoned them to the Law Hall and spoke with them for a long time. These past few days, they all seem quite busy. Last night, several immortal masters came to see you, but seeing that you hadn’t awakened yet, they left again.”

Zanxing asked: “How is Seventh Martial Uncle?”

Gu Baiying had sustained the most serious injuries. As the mirage demon had said, his spiritual meridians had been previously damaged, and in Wufan City, he had forcibly activated his Yuanli to fight the mirage demon, potentially endangering his life. Although the Serpent Witch had given her the treasure map, they had not yet found the sacred tree or its fruits. Gu Baiying’s spiritual meridian defect remained, and she wondered about his current condition.

“Young Master Gu?” Hong Su thought for a moment: “I didn’t see him in the past few days, but last night he came with Young Master Tian. He looked no different from usual.”

Looking no different from usual meant he should be temporarily out of danger. Hearing this, Zanxing felt somewhat relieved.

She got up from the bed, and Hong Su asked: “Young Miss, what are you planning to do?”

“I haven’t gotten out of bed for seven days,” Zanxing said. “I’m going out for a walk.”

Just as she stepped out of the courtyard, she saw Xuan Lingzi hurrying from outside, nearly tripping over Mimi, who was lying by the door. Zanxing helped steady him, and Xuan Lingzi took the opportunity to grasp her hand, sighing: “Zanxing, your master heard you had awakened and immediately rushed over to see you. How are you feeling? Is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable?”

“Thank you, Master. I don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere.”

“This time, when you went to Li’er Kingdom for trials, I was careless. I didn’t expect someone to tamper with the transmission array and send you to Wufan City instead. I thought with your Seventh Martial Uncle there, everything would be foolproof, but who could have known that your Seventh Martial Uncle’s spiritual meridians had problems? Meng Ying told me that this time it was all thanks to you. However, you were too reckless, actually burning your own Yuanli. When you returned, the Sect Master examined you, and fortunately, your Yuanli doesn’t appear to have suffered major damage.” He looked at Zanxing with worry: “I just don’t know if there will be any lingering effects in the future.”

Zanxing’s heart paused. That day, when everyone was trapped by the mirage demon’s illusion, on the surface, it appeared that only she had Yuanli left to burn her original essence, but in reality, she had burned the power contained within the Xiaoyuan Pearl. Shaoyang Zhenren’s cultivation was extremely high—she wondered if he had noticed anything suspicious.

“If I had known your Seventh Martial Uncle was injured, I wouldn’t have let him go. It would have been better to have Zi Luo go together…” Xuan Lingzi continued chattering.

Zanxing interrupted him: “Master, how is Seventh Martial Uncle now?”

Xuan Lingzi snapped back to attention: “The Sect Master treated his injuries as soon as he returned. Now he can run, jump, and scold people—he’s more spirited than you. He’s in the Xiaoyao Hall right now. What, do you want to go see him?”

Zanxing thought for a moment: “Alright.”

……

Behind Xiaoyao Hall, in the bedroom.

The paired-wing flower trees in the courtyard bloomed more brilliantly than usual, with fire-red phoenix birds spreading their wings as if about to fly, decorating the cold and quiet Law Hall with gorgeous colors.

The young man sat by the window, absent-mindedly watching the flower trees outside, holding a small and exquisite azure bell in his hand.

A red flower fell from the tree, floating and swaying as it drifted to the ground like crimson snow, disrupting his train of thought.

Gu Baiying looked down at the bell in his hand, his brow gradually furrowing.

The bell was still the same as always—crystal clear, ancient, cold to the touch in his hand.

But that night in Wufan City, in that stone chamber, the Jiexin Bell had rung.

The bell’s sound was subtle and gentle, like a young person’s bashful love words, yet hearing it in his ears was earth-shattering.

The Jiexin Bell rings when the heart is moved.

His heart had been moved? Because of whom? Yang Zanxing?

The image of the woman suddenly surfaced in his mind. In the dim and shadowy stone chamber, at the end of their rope, she had stood in front of him in a protective stance.

Gu Baiying’s heart began to pound.

A familiar shout came from outside: “Seventh Martial Uncle!”

The young man startled back to awareness and threw the bell away as if it were a hot potato. It happened to be caught by the person outside. Zanxing’s face appeared at the window, holding the Jiexin Bell, asking strangely: “Martial Uncle, you’re throwing things around?”

Gu Baiying steadied himself and snatched the Jiexin Bell from Zanxing’s hand, shoving it into the table drawer in a concealing manner and closing the drawer with fluid, seamless movements.

Zanxing: “Martial Uncle, why are you…”

“It’s broken,” Gu Baiying interrupted her.

“But I just seemed to hear the bell ringing…”

“Impossible.”

Zanxing: “……”

She said, “I was just joking. Why is Martial Uncle so nervous?”

The young man became angry from embarrassment, pressing her shoulders and pushing her outward while saying: “Who told you to enter my Law Hall?”

Zanxing was pushed outside by him, joking as she walked: “Martial Uncle, isn’t your temper a bit too fiery this early in the morning? No matter what, I’m still your lifesaver. How can you show me no respect at all?”

“Shut up!”

As the two bickered noisily, someone else came from outside. Tian Fangfang’s loud voice echoed throughout the entire courtyard: “Junior Sister, you’re awake!”

Both of them stopped their movements simultaneously. Tian Fangfang walked to Zanxing’s side and patted her shoulder with relief: “Junior Sister, I just returned to the hall, and Master said you had awakened. That’s wonderful! I said Junior Sister has heaven’s protection and wouldn’t come to harm.”

Gu Baiying said impatiently: “Are you finished talking? If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving first.”

Tian Fangfang grabbed him: “Martial Uncle, don’t leave yet. Perfectly, you’re here—the Sect Master wants you to go to Jinhua Hall.”

“For what?”

“You don’t know?” Tian Fangfang asked strangely, “People from the Xiangling Sect have come.”