Ever since that night when Gu Baiying came to deliver the Wuyou Stick, Zanxing hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Gu Baiying for quite some time.

Hong Su sat on a stool, her face full of worry as she helped Mimi groom her fur, muttering to herself: “We haven’t seen Young Master Gu for several days now. Could it be that he’s planning to hide away when Miss’s birthday comes, waiting until the birthday passes before showing up again, deliberately avoiding this day to save himself from giving gifts? Didn’t they say the Taiyan Sect dotes on him greatly? He shouldn’t lack these few spirit stones. How come we never noticed before that he’s such a petty man? Can’t have a petty man.”

Zanxing: “…Don’t talk nonsense.”

When Gu Baiying spent lavishly at Huajin Tower, she hadn’t seen him frown even once. Spirit stones were nothing more than numbers to him. Zanxing had gone to Xiaoyao Hall to find him a few days ago, and heard that he had already taken the second pill refined from the Sacred Tree fruit and was in seclusion.

Li Danshu was using the Sacred Tree fruit to refine three pills, each one more potent than the last. After taking the first pill, Gu Baiying’s spiritual meridians had already been half-repaired. Presumably, after finishing this one, his spiritual meridians would be seventy to eighty percent healed.

Regarding Gu Baiying’s spiritual meridians, Zanxing cared more than anyone else, perhaps because this young man had journeyed alongside her and their friendship ran deep, or perhaps because Gu Baiying was like another version of herself in this world. In this strange and fantastical cultivation world, he was like another kind of hope. If Gu Baiying could completely repair his spiritual meridians and escape his fate of early death, wouldn’t that mean she could likewise forge a new ending for herself?

Because of the possibility that the demon race might make a comeback, everyone on Gufeng Mountain was on high alert. The more tense things became, the more uneasy Zanxing felt in her heart. Her heart was constantly anxious, always feeling that something unexpected would happen.

She stood up and said, “I’m going out for a walk.”

Recently, Zanxing had been frequently going to Chuhong Terrace, but her cultivation had not progressed much. The Xiaoyuan Pearl had helped her shorten her advancement time in the early stages, but the further she progressed, the less obvious the benefits to her cultivation became. There were even many restrictions, and she didn’t know if it was because this was a treasure from the demon realm and was being limited in the cultivation world.

But she didn’t know how to remove the Xiaoyuan Pearl now either.

With heavy thoughts, she walked toward the Library Pavilion and happened to see Meng Ying walking over from the other direction. It was morning now, a time when Meng Ying was usually cultivating, so it was rare to see her out at this hour. The woman wore a snow-white Liuxian dress, her azure hair loosely half-pinned up. She was looking down at something in her hand with a somewhat absent-minded expression.

Zanxing greeted her: “Senior Sister Meng.”

Meng Ying came back to her senses and nodded: “Junior Sister.”

“What are you holding in your hand? You were looking at it so intently that you didn’t even notice me walking over.” Zanxing curiously looked toward her palm, and upon seeing it, she was stunned.

It was a palm-sized round box made of wood, painted bright red with an intricate carving of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl story on top. Zanxing hesitantly asked: “This is… rouge?”

Meng Ying shook her head: “I don’t know either.” With that, she directly opened the round wooden box.

As soon as the box opened, a strong fragrance wafted out, making Zanxing sneeze. Looking into the box, it was indeed a box of rouge.

The rouge was an extremely vivid magenta color, the kind of magenta that Zanxing had only seen on old-style porcelain before. How to put it – it was gorgeous, yes, but if used on a person’s face, unless that person had skin as delicate as white snow, nine times out of ten, they would look like a fool.

Zanxing looked at Meng Ying with difficulty finding words. Although Meng Ying was beautiful, wasn’t this choice of rouge color a bit too willful? She tactfully asked: “Senior Sister Meng, how did you come to like this color?”

“It was a gift from Junior Brother Mu.” Meng Ying looked at Zanxing with some confusion: “Is this color very ugly?”

Meng Ying never used cosmetics ordinarily. For someone with her kind of beauty, cosmetics would be a burden. So she was completely clueless about rouge colors and powder shades, not knowing whether they looked good or not.

Zanxing gave a dry laugh: “It’s not that it’s not good-looking, I can only say this color is very bold.”

These two people, Mu Cengxiao and Meng Ying, were something – one dared to give it, the other dared to accept it.

“This is the first time I’ve received such a gift.” Meng Ying thought for a moment: “It’s very special.”

Zanxing: “…”

This senior sister, who was always cold and aloof, seemed less ethereal and otherworldly after spending more time together, just having a quieter temperament than others. Zanxing could see the gentleness in Meng Ying’s brows, and couldn’t help wondering: Could it be that Meng Ying had fallen for Mu Cengxiao?

So, had this plot changed, or not?

At the same time, in Mingjing Hall, Mu Cengxiao had departed from his usual decisiveness and asked Mendong somewhat hesitantly: “Junior Brother, will Senior Sister Meng really like the rouge I gave her?”

“Of course.” Mendong answered without thinking: “Don’t you trust me?”

“But…” Mu Cengxiao was still somewhat uneasy: “There are so many colors of rouge, and I don’t know which kind Senior Sister Meng likes. She doesn’t usually use these things either. If she doesn’t like what I gave her…”

“Why are you being so wishy-washy?” Mendong grew impatient and scolded him: “You’re usually so decisive when cultivating and fighting, how come you’re so hopeless in front of Senior Sister Meng? Women’s rouge comes in so many varieties, but they’re all the same – just different shades of deep red, light red, peach red, pink red, all similar. As long as you don’t give some particularly bizarre color, it should be fine. I trust your taste isn’t that bad, right?”

Mu Cengxiao looked at Mendong uncertainly for a while, as if recalling whether the color he had chosen was bizarre or not. After a long time, he finally nodded with determination: “I think the color I picked is very good.”

“Then that’s settled.” Mendong picked up a hawthorn cake from the table and took a bite, looking out the window with a sigh: “It’s been several days now. Wonder if Master Uncle has found the Heavenly Soul Wood?”

As he spoke these words, somewhere in a dense forest behind Gufeng Mountain, a fierce beast’s roar suddenly arose, thunderous and piercingly loud.

Azure wood covered the mountain walls, swift water rushed, and a gigantic wild beast slowly rose from the dense forest.

This enormous beast was as imposing as a small mountain, with four legs, an animal body, bovine eyes, and a single silver horn atop its head. The long horn was not smooth but sharp as a blade tip, making one not doubt that if it struck a person, it would pierce a large hole through their body, inspiring fear at first sight.

A silver spear was planted in the ground.

The Silver Rhinoceros let out low howls, its gaping maw revealing two curved tusks dripping with saliva. This saliva carried a peculiar fragrance and quickly seeped into the earth. Behind this Silver Rhinoceros, a leafless ancient tree grew luxuriantly.

The young man’s vermilion hair ribbon gleamed faintly in the sunlight. He raised an eyebrow, gripped the Embroidered Bone Spear in his hand tightly, looked at the giant beast before him, and smiled: “Found it.”