Early the next morning, when Zanxing woke up, the sun had already risen.
Li’er Kingdom was located in the south, where days were long and nights were short. As Zanxing sat up in her bed, she saw a line of sunlight reflected on the floor. The tightly closed window from last night had somehow been blown open by the wind, leaving a crack through which she could faintly hear the sounds of activity outside.
She rubbed her eyes, quickly washed up, and pushed open the door. Mimi was dozing on a stone bench in the courtyard. Under the flame tree in the yard, someone was practicing with a spear.
The young man’s snow-white brocade robe was bathed in golden sunlight, with exquisite and vivid red wild goose patterns embroidered on the garment. Even more brilliant than his crimson hair ribbon was his countenance. The flame tree bloomed with red flowers, and the silver spear danced in his hands like a meteor chasing the moon. The bright red falling petals stirred up by the spear wind danced around him like fleeting shadows of a startled swan.
The palace maids passing by seemed stunned by his beauty, frequently turning their heads as they walked past, their faces filled with shy timidity.
Zanxing took two steps forward. Seeming to sense someone approaching, Gu Baiying abruptly stopped and withdrew his spear. A flame tree flower that hadn’t had time to be caught flew into Zanxing’s embrace. She looked up and met his beautiful, clear eyes directly.
Zanxing held the flower and clapped her hands, “Clap, clap, clap”: “Seventh Uncle’s beauty matches his spear skills perfectly – I was completely mesmerized watching.”
Gu Baiying frowned: “What nonsense are you spouting?” He looked her up and down and lectured: “What time is it that you’re just getting up? Yang Zanxing, I heard from Xuan Lingzi on Gufeng Mountain that you were diligent – were you just pretending?”
“I’m conserving my energy to prepare for entering the Secret Realm,” Zanxing smiled. “After all, not everyone can be like Uncle, blessed with outstanding talent and still practice diligently.”
Gu Baiying never knew how to write the word “modesty” when it came to others’ compliments. Hearing this, he only snorted: “Stop flattering me.”
As they were talking, a maid approached from the other side, saying: “Immortal Gu, Immortal Yang, the Sovereign has ordered this servant to bring the records from the Demon Shark case. After you’ve had your morning meal, you can review them. If you need anything else, just call for this servant.” She handed the wooden box in her hands to Zanxing.
Zanxing weighed the box – it was quite heavy. She thanked the maid and walked with Gu Baiying toward the main hall in the courtyard. Mendong and Tian Fangfang had set out early in the morning, and Mu Cengxiao and Meng Ying had also left with Tan Tianxin’s group to search for demonic aura. For now, only Zanxing and Gu Baiying remained in this courtyard.
The maid quickly brought in the morning meal. Li’er Kingdom’s breakfast was very abundant – the dishes were all served on beautiful silver plates: stewed apples, red and white tofu, bamboo joint mini steamed buns, rock sugar snow fungus coconut cups, coral snow rolls, sand nest wonton shark fin, fresh fish soup… The fruits were served generously as if they cost nothing, drizzled with snow-white ice cream, offering a complete variety.
Looking at this breakfast, Zanxing felt that Li’er Kingdom was indeed very wealthy, making the honeymoon feeling even stronger. She pulled the snow fungus coconut cup toward herself and tasted it with a spoon – it was very sweet and refreshing on her lips and tongue.
Gu Baiying sat across from Zanxing with no intention of picking up his chopsticks. Zanxing asked: “Uncle, aren’t you eating?”
“These dishes contain no spiritual energy. Eating too much mortal food does no good for cultivation.” Gu Baiying’s face was full of disdain: “You seem to have a particular fondness for mortal food.”
“Because it tastes good,” Zanxing picked up a chopstick full of fish meat and tasted it, very satisfied. She continued: “Saying food tastes good is the best praise you can give food.”
Gu Baiying glanced at her: “Only caring about the pleasures of the palate – I see you’ll amount to nothing in this lifetime.”
“That’s not so bad either,” Zanxing said. “I don’t plan to dominate the cultivation world anyway.”
Probably finding Zanxing to be truly rotten wood that couldn’t be carved, Gu Baiying was too lazy to continue talking with her. Zanxing quickly finished the large table of breakfast table. When the maid came to clear away the empty bowls and plates, Gu Baiying looked at Mimi sprawled by the door sunbathing and said: “So it’s true that pets resemble their owners.”
Zanxing: “……”
This Seventh Uncle somehow always found her displeasing to the eye, constantly finding fault as if she had stolen his treasure. Zanxing changed the subject: “Now that I’m full, Uncle, let’s look at these records first.”
The records in the wooden box were all covered with a thin layer of dust, as if no one had read them for a long time. There were about seven or eight volumes in total. Zanxing casually picked up one volume and opened it to read.
The Demon Shark case was already forty years in the past. Li’er Kingdom’s old sovereign had also been dead for forty years, and the events of that time had gradually been forgotten in people’s memories. If not for the recent troubles in the city, with the current sovereign suspecting that the Demon Shark from back then had returned for revenge, no one would have specifically looked through these materials.
The records were very thick. Zanxing picked up the topmost volume and opened it to read. At first, she patiently studied it bit by bit, but gradually began to feel something was strange. She slammed the records down on the table and looked at Gu Baiying: “Uncle, don’t you think something’s not right?”
“What’s not right?”
“Look,” Zanxing pointed it out to him, “These records claim to document the Demon Shark case, but I don’t think they wrote much about the Demon Shark’s habits and characteristics. It’s all praising the old sovereign’s heroic righteousness. Look at what’s written here: ‘His Majesty held his precious sword and fought the Demon Shark. The Demon Shark was vicious, but His Majesty was wise and brave, stepping forward for all the people of Li’er Kingdom, fighting the Demon Shark with blood and sweat…” She paused, choosing her words carefully: “This doesn’t seem like records documenting the Demon Shark – it’s more like eulogies written specifically to praise the old sovereign.”
Gu Baiying snorted lightly: “That’s how royal families are – they’ve already erected golden statues, so what are a few eulogistic volumes? But…” He frowned as he looked at the volume in his hands: “These records are indeed missing something.”
“Right?” Zanxing said, “Such thick records should contain something meaningful. At the very least, they should describe how they discovered this Demon Shark back then and how they subdued it, but there’s nothing written about that.” It was simply like repeating what Princess Lizhu had said, and within this repetition, they had praised the old sovereign to death. While Zanxing could understand the people of Li’er Kingdom’s feelings of respect for the old sovereign, one volume would have been enough. Having every single record like this only made people wonder if Li’er Kingdom’s court historians had obtained their positions through flattery.
“The information about the victims from forty years ago is also insufficiently recorded.” Gu Baiying quickly flipped through several volumes of records and said thoughtfully, “Merfolk are good with water and usually live in water. There’s no reason for them to come ashore to kill people, and draining human blood doesn’t match their habits.”
“Could it be that it wasn’t merfolk causing trouble?” Zanxing asked. She naturally harbored some goodwill toward merfolk.
“The demon-slaying formation did indeed capture merfolk in the royal palace back then,” Gu Baiying reminded her. “This point wasn’t fabricated.”
“But that was back then,” Zanxing said. “Even if it was true then, it doesn’t prove that the one causing trouble now is the same Demon Shark, right? Princess Lizhu herself said so. That Demon Shark from back then had already been destroyed. Although the current victims all died from having their blood drained, it could also be a copycat case.”