Rain began falling at night.

The rain came down hard. On Zanxing’s way back from Chuhong Terrace to Miaokong Hall, her clothes were soaked through by more than half. Having just finished cultivating and with her yuanli not yet recovered, she didn’t use a rain-repelling technique.

The rain fell densely, as if heaven and earth were sewn together with fine, close threads. Gufeng Mountain became a chaotic mass, night and rain mixed, dyeing the mountain peaks layer by layer with moisture.

A figure swept past from ahead.

Zanxing’s steps paused as she looked toward Xiaoyao Hall. Just now, was it her imagination, or did she see someone go in?

She suspected what she saw was Gu Baiying. She hadn’t seen him come out for quite some days now, and wondered if his spiritual meridians had improved after taking the second pill. As Zanxing hesitated in her steps, Hong Su ran out from the hall holding a paper umbrella, calling to her: “Miss, what are you doing standing there getting rained on? Come back quickly, your clothes are all wet!”

Zanxing withdrew her gaze and entered the gates of Miaokong Hall together with Hong Su.

The door closed with a “bang.”

A rain-soaked young man hurriedly flashed into the room. His clothes were nearly drenched through by the rain, his snow-white robe stained with large patches of fresh blood. The hair ribbon that was usually flying freely now clung wetly to the back of his head, making him look quite disheveled. Those beautiful eyes were as bright as ever, but his complexion was somewhat pale.

The Embroidered Bone Spear was placed in a corner. He hadn’t even had time to change his clothes before carefully taking out a palm-length tree branch from his chest.

This branch was only as thick as a person’s thumb, its entire body emanating a verdant, ethereal luster. If touched by hand, it seemed as though warm yuanli would flow into the body through the fingertips. Heavenly Soul Wood couldn’t increase a person’s yuanli, but it could nourish the spiritual soul. The Yinfeng Sect people were wealthy and generous, spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of spirit stones to buy back a piece to make spirit artifacts, leading to people cursing them behind their backs for wasting precious resources – this showed just how rare this wood was.

In all of Gufeng Mountain, there was only this one Heavenly Soul Wood tree. To chop off a section of the branch from the Heavenly Soul Wood and take it away was even more difficult than ascending to heaven. Even though Gu Baiying had already taken the second pill and recovered most of his spiritual meridians, facing that Silver Rhinoceros, he still sustained considerable injuries.

However, fortunately, there were gains to be had.

That emerald green branch was so fresh and tender in color, it seemed as if it had just been plucked from the tree. Gu Baiying didn’t wait long before sitting down at the table and pulling out a short dagger from the wooden drawer.

Heavenly Soul Wood was rare in material. Without yuanli sealing it, soul power would overflow, and it would quickly wither. If someone obtained a section of Heavenly Soul Wood, it was best to process and forge it in the shortest time possible to preserve maximum efficacy. He had chopped away a section of Heavenly Soul Wood right under the Silver Rhinoceros’s nose, not lingering, immediately leaving the mountain to return to the sect, all to bring the Heavenly Soul Wood back in the shortest time possible.

Rain mixed with wind battered the windows outside, making “pitter-patter” sounds.

He lowered his eyes to study the branch in his hand. What should he make with this?

…

The rain fell all night long.

When dawn was breaking, the rooster flew up to a tree branch, strutting back and forth proudly, letting out a series of high-pitched crows. The night on Gufeng Mountain was called awake.

“Snap.”

The dagger was placed on the table as someone leaned back slightly, stretching a somewhat stiff body.

The young man’s rain-soaked clothes had long since been dried by the wind. The bloodstains from his injuries had dried after meeting water, like flowers blooming in varying shades of intensity on his white robe.

And at his fingertips, he held a wooden hairpin.

The hairpin was slender and exquisite, its entire body polished smooth and round by the blade tip. It must have been very carefully polished, looking no worse than the craftsmen’s handiwork at Huajin Tower. At the top of the hairpin, an azure phoenix spreading its wings in flight was delicately carved. The entire hairpin was verdant and ethereal, with a faint fragrance emanating from it.

Gu Baiying gazed at this hairpin for a moment, then frowned slightly: “It’s still too plain.”

Those hairpins and rings at Huajin Tower had names that competed to be longer than each other. This hairpin had neither rubies nor snow shells, much less phoenixes holding coral in their mouths – it seemed somewhat inadequate to present. But if he randomly added some jewelry and ornaments, it would conversely be unworthy of this Heavenly Soul Wood hairpin.

As he pondered, someone knocked on the door outside: “Master Uncle, Master Uncle!”

Gu Baiying put away the wooden hairpin, got up, and opened the door. As soon as Mendong saw him, he jumped in fright: “Heavens, Master Uncle, did you go kill someone?”

Last night he had hurried back, and to avoid delaying too long and having the Heavenly Soul Wood wither, he immediately began making the hairpin, so much so that he hadn’t even had time to change out of his dirtied clothes.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Gu Baiying said, smacking his head. “What do you want with me?”

“I came to check on you. You’ve been missing for several days, and Fourth Master Uncle was worried you had some problem after taking the pill.”

“I’m fine.” Gu Baiying took off his soiled outer robe, planning to go wash up. As soon as he turned around, Mendong grabbed the corner of his robe. The child looked him up and down suspiciously and asked: “Master Uncle, did you go to the back mountain to find Heavenly Soul Wood?”

“Yeah.” Gu Baiying answered quite readily.

Mendong’s eyes widened: “You went to find Heavenly Soul Wood? You’re too impulsive! Even Master Uncle Yueqin and Third Master Uncle need to join forces to subdue that Silver Rhinoceros, and you went alone with your spiritual meridians not fully repaired… So did you get the Heavenly Soul Wood?”

“Obviously.”

“You got it?” Mendong’s eyes lit up as he looked up at Gu Baiying: “Master Uncle, let me see what Heavenly Soul Wood looks like? The last time I saw Heavenly Soul Wood was during the sect assembly. Let me have a look. This Heavenly Soul Wood is good stuff – it’s excellent for pill refining and medicine. You just finished repairing your spiritual meridians, and nourishing your spiritual essence a bit more would greatly benefit your future cultivation…”

Gu Baiying reached out to cover his face, saying impatiently: “Chatterbox, I’m going to bathe.”

“Master Uncle, let me see, let me see!” Mendong still unwillingly followed behind him.

In the end, Mendong never got to see what that Heavenly Soul Wood looked like. He searched around Gu Baiying’s room but still came up empty-handed. After staring at Gu Baiying for a long while, he ultimately didn’t dare to search Gu Baiying’s person and left in disappointment. Before leaving, he reminded Gu Baiying: “Oh right, Yang Zanxing asked me several times how you were doing. Master Uncle, if you’re fine, go see her at Miaokong Hall, so she doesn’t have to ask me again when she sees me.”

…

After a rainy night on the mountain, sleep always felt especially sweet.

Zanxing slept until the sun was high in the sky, only waking when Hong Su called her to eat.

She rubbed her eyes. Recently, she had been prone to drowsiness, sleeping about as much as Mimi, though she didn’t know if this was good or bad.

There was no one left in Miaokong Hall. Mu Cengxiao had gone to Chuhong Terrace to cultivate before dawn, and Tian Fangfang had rushed to eat lunch – if you went to the dining hall too late, all the meat dishes would be snatched up by other disciples. After washing up, Zanxing didn’t feel particularly hungry in her stomach, so she walked unhurriedly toward the dining hall.

Perhaps because it had rained all night, the air on the mountain was exceptionally fresh. Sunlight streamed down through the gaps in the tree branches, falling on people with a clean warmth.

Along the way, disciples carrying various wooden boxes or artifacts hurried past from time to time. Because of the possible resurrection of the Demon Lord, all the sects had begun making preparations. The Taiyan Sect was the same, not only setting up formations at the foot of the mountain, but also beginning to arrange formations on the mountain. The various halls had begun preparations, and spirit artifacts and talismans from years past, when they fought the demon race, were being re-cleaned and inventoried one by one by disciples.

Seeing this scene, Zanxing’s originally good mood was immediately swept away. This Demon Lord matter was truly irritating and annoying. Either be straightforward about it and come up the mountain directly for a quick resolution, or just stay quiet and not appear at all. Just occasionally harassing small sects like this, making all the major sects prepare for battle while repeatedly failing to show up – who knew if some great conspiracy was being brewed. Moreover, her identity… was simply like a sword hanging over her head, making her worry daily about when it would fall.

And right now, they weren’t even allowed to go down the mountain.

She walked along, lost in heavy thoughts, until a dissatisfied voice reached her ears: “Yang Zanxing.”

Zanxing snapped back to attention and saw Gu Baiying standing in front of her. She was startled: “Master Uncle?”

“I called you several times and you didn’t hear.” He suspiciously moved closer, staring into Zanxing’s eyes: “Are you hiding something from me?”

“There are plenty of things I’m hiding from you. Which one are you talking about?” Zanxing asked.

Gu Baiying was momentarily speechless, then huffed: “Your courage has grown quite a bit now, even daring to talk back to your elders.”

An eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man constantly calling himself an elder was quite awkward. Zanxing smiled: “Master Uncle, how has your recent seclusion been? Mendong said you’ve already taken the second pill. How is it? Are your spiritual meridians healing well?”

“So-so.”

Zanxing sighed: “That’s good, then. Otherwise, with the Qin Chong gone and the Sacred Tree fruit useless, I would blame myself for a lifetime.”

“Cough cough cough!” Gu Baiying nearly choked himself. He looked at Zanxing as if he’d seen a ghost: “How do you know about the Qin Chong?”

“When we came back from the treasure land last time, Senior Brother Tian told me.” Zanxing looked at him seriously: “No wonder you were always so opposed to me dual cultivating before – it was because once I dual cultivated, the Qin Chong seed would no longer be in my body.”

Gu Baiying suddenly understood. In the treasure land, Zanxing had fallen into the Sacred Tree’s spiritual domain together with Mu Cengxiao. In his urgency, Mendong had revealed the Qin Chong matter. He hadn’t expected that big-mouthed Mendong to later give Tian Fangfang a detailed explanation.

Just as he was thinking this, Gu Baiying saw Zanxing take a step forward, moving slightly closer, her tone sincere: “The way you were so vigilantly guarding against people around me back then, I thought you liked me.”

The wind blew, causing the woman’s hair to flutter slightly, with a strand or two brushing against his face, making his heart itch.

The young man’s ears quickly turned red, his gaze dodging, actually looking somewhat guilty.

Their eyes met, speechless for a moment, until someone passed by, breaking the frozen moment under the sunlight.

It was two outer sect disciples. One held a wooden box, the other carried a flower pot in his hands. In the flower pot grew a blue flower. This flower was very beautiful, with large, gorgeous petals in a lovely peacock blue color.

Zanxing’s gaze was drawn to this flower, and she casually asked Gu Baiying beside her: “Master Uncle, what kind of flower is that? The color is really pretty.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the young man’s originally bashful expression quickly faded. He suddenly looked toward Zanxing beside him: “What did you say?”