Dong Tianyun looked at the chubby little back facing the wall, not quite certain as he rubbed his chin. “Are you unhappy?”

Ever since returning from the South Sea, this little meatball had been pouting silently without making a sound, not even drinking her flower juice. He had even asked Jin Zhan to check if she was sick, but Jin Zhan only gave a cold laugh and walked away without looking back.

Usually, the little meatball would take any chance to pounce on him, but today she was keeping her distance of eight zhang away. He felt rather uncomfortable about it—this half-grown girl had actually learned to sulk and ignore people. “If you eat, I’ll give you something fun to play with,” the Lord of Nine Nether Palace condescended to say.

Facing the wall, Xiang Su snorted darkly to herself. She was three hundred and fifty years old this year—she wasn’t falling for that trick anymore!

“Look, what’s this?”

Xiang Su continued to pout. Behind her, precious light was flashing brilliantly. Though her heart was itching with curiosity, Junshang was full of tricks and schemes—who knew what kind of broken thing he would use to deceive her.

“This is an egg that Kunpeng transformed into. As long as you hold it every day, a fun little bird will hatch out and play with you every day. It won’t fly away.”

When he said “won’t fly away,” he slightly drew out the tone with some sadness. Whenever he revealed such a lonely demeanor, Xiang Su’s heart would soften enough to forgive him anything. She rolled over, her round grape-black eyes first looking at Dong Tianyun. Because she had turned around, he showed a happy smile, his beautiful eyes and brows more dazzling than even the Kunpeng egg. “Here, hold it well.”

He lightly flicked the Kunpeng egg with his finger, rolling it to her side like playing ball with her. Xiang Su felt somewhat emotional—the big black bird hadn’t completely died after all, but transformed into this appearance, truly achieving the same result through different means as herself. She struggled to roll it with her hands, but her paws were too small to even grasp it properly. Holding it in her arms, she felt a wave of sadness.

“Only Kunpeng was willing to die with me,” Dong Tianyun sighed. “This is Daddy’s most important friend. You must hatch it well.”

Xiang Su almost knocked herself dead against the egg. What she couldn’t bear to hear most were those two words—”Daddy”!

“All right, you’ve received the gift. Time to drink your flower juice, right?” Dong Tianyun picked up the bottle and reached out to hold her. Xiang Su still wanted to throw a tantrum, but seeing him smiling with his arms open, she immediately suffered a crushing defeat. Reluctantly crawling a couple of times, she was gathered into his embrace. “Eat more, grow up faster.” When he looked at her from beneath his half-lowered long lashes with that deep gaze, she always felt dizzy. When she came back to her senses, she had already drunk half the bottle and was hiccupping from choking.

At night when sleeping, held tightly in his arms, she was so angry she couldn’t sleep. Gradually she began to figure something out! He made her help hatch Kunpeng, yet acted as if he was giving her some tremendous benefit! Could Kunpeng be considered a “fun little bird”? Whether as Shenghuan Dijun or the Lord of Nine Nether Palace, overall, he was just an extremely shameless liar!

Not knowing when she fell asleep, Xiang Su was awakened by her own hair tickling her. She turned her head somewhat surprised and discovered with delight that overnight her hair had grown quite a bit! She raised her hand to examine it closely—her hand had also grown a little bigger. Was it because getting angry was especially beneficial for growth? Dong Tianyun was also disturbed by her movements and opened his eyes. Looking at her, he couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. “It seems eating more really does make you grow faster,” he said with satisfaction.

Getting up, he helped her to her feet. “Can you walk?” Overnight she had grown to the size of a one-year-old mortal child. He looked at her encouragingly.

Xiang Su also wanted to know the answer to this question. She tried hard to walk a few steps—though unsteady with one foot high and one foot low, at least she had taken her first steps. Dong Tianyun smiled with relief. “Excellent! From now on you can walk by yourself.”

Hearing this, Xiang Su immediately flopped back down on the bed. No matter how much Dong Tianyun encouraged and coaxed her, she refused to take another half step—she wanted him to carry her.

“Then… can you speak?” Dong Tianyun also gave up and switched targets. Xiang Su also wanted to try. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, Dong Tianyun smiled at her again. “Call me Daddy—”

Xiang Su almost spat in disgust at him, completely losing all interest in speaking.

Dong Tianyun didn’t continue pressing her. He touched her soft hair that had already grown to her shoulders. He got out of bed. Xiang Su thought he was going to find the flower root nanny, but unexpectedly he went to the dressing table to get a fine-toothed comb, carefully sat down behind her, and slowly began to comb her hair.

Xiang Su felt her heart ache a little. Even though the previous Shenghuan Dijun had loved her so much, he had never combed her hair. After fifty years trapped at the river bottom, unlike at Nine Jue Mountain, having experienced calamity, he had become somewhat afraid of loneliness. That’s why he kept her by his side and treated her so well—he needed a close relative to always accompany him.

“What are you doing?!” came a shocked cry. Chilin rushed in from the doorway and knocked the comb out of Dong Tianyun’s hand with a slap. The Dong Tianyun in her heart would never do such trivial, boring things!

Dong Tianyun was clearly angered by her and looked at her coldly without saying a word.

Chilin bit her lip. Toward Dong Tianyun, she always had an inexplicable fear. She had overreacted. These past few days returning to Chiying Palace to handle official business, she had also learned that Dong Tianyun had accepted this wood spirit child as his daughter. She endured the awkwardness and picked up the comb. “Then… then… let me do it,” she said with a forced smile.

“No need.” Dong Tianyun said coldly, raising his hand to wait. Chilin returned the comb to his hand. “She is my daughter. I don’t need to delegate this to others.”

Chilin was stung by his words “others.” After “Xiang Su” married someone else, he had never spoken to her so coldly and severely. That feeling from back then, of having her sweetheart stolen by Xiang Su, returned. The world between Dong Tianyun and this wood spirit child once again pushed her out and away!

Dong Tianyun tied Xiang Su’s hair into two bunches, studied them for a while, and smiled slightly. “Let’s go.”

Chilin thought he was speaking to her. She wanted to tell him that Yuanhou had found Qingsui and they were waiting for him together in Nine Nether Hall. But he picked up the child and walked out as if she didn’t exist.

Chilin stood there in a daze, watching his back as he carried the child away. Dong Tianyun seemed to have forgotten—she was no longer the Chilin of the past. He now needed something from her!

When she reached the main hall, a whole table of people were discussing the child who had grown larger again. Dong Tianyun showed an obviously proud smile—praising his daughter was like praising himself. “Must you hold a child while discussing serious matters?” Chilin said coldly.

Everyone turned to look at her. Yu Mu shook his head at her, signaling her not to continue.

Chilin acted as if she hadn’t noticed. “Must you hold a child while discussing serious matters?” she asked again with heavier emphasis.

Dong Tianyun, his smile faded, looked expressionlessly at Xiang Su’s round little head. Provoked by Chilin, he gave a cold laugh and said definitively: “Yes!”

“Fine! Then I won’t talk anymore!” Chilin swept her crimson robe sleeves and turned to leave. Yu Mu quickly stood up and took two fast steps to grab her.

“Why are you getting worked up over a child?” Yu Mu smiled reproachfully, lowering his voice but still letting everyone hear: “Who knows, in the future you might even be her mother.”

Dong Tianyun glanced up at them, about to say something, when Yuanhou tugged his sleeve and glared at him very pointedly.

“Why fight about this?” Qingsui said dismissively, throwing a look at Jin Zhan. “Let Jin Zhan Niang hold her.”

Jin Zhan had already taken Xiang Su from Dong Tianyun’s arms, but hearing this, tossed Xiang Su into Qingsui’s embrace instead. Xiang Su knew this was definitely not the time to fool around and could only sit obediently in Sister Qingsui’s lap, enduring her groping her bottom one moment and pinching her cheeks the next. Jin Zhan—she had started hating him again! It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what kind of person Sister Qingsui was, yet he still threw her into the devil’s clutches!

“With the Breath Pearl, everything is ready. When shall we go to Dragon Prison Valley?” Yu Mu wanted to ease the cold, tense atmosphere. Smiling, he spoke up and went straight to the point.

“Everything is ready… that’s hard to say.” Yuanhou was somewhat worried. “I’ve discovered that the earth veins of Dragon Prison Valley are extremely peculiar—even I cannot control them with the Heaven-Opening Axe.”

Everyone fell silent. The Heaven-Opening Axe was an earth spirit divine artifact that could command the earth veins of the Three Realms. That Dragon Prison Valley was beyond control was truly rare.

“I knew it! Any place that could trap Shen Nong Ding for so many years must definitely be a demonic place!” Qingsui said bitterly.

“We’ll deal with it when we get there.” Dong Tianyun impatiently waved his hand, took Xiang Su back from Qingsui, picked her up and walked away.

Yu Mu frowned and glanced at Chilin. “The consequence of willfulness… may be losing everything we’ve worked for.”

Chilin trembled. The phrase “losing everything we’ve worked for” held particular persuasive power for her.

Yuanhou coughed. Despite Qingsui’s eye-rolling, he still smiled and spoke up: “Dong Tianyun’s temper—haven’t you figured it out yet? Things were fine these past few days, so why did you fall back into old habits today? Actually, he’s someone who responds to softness but not hardness. The louder you get with him, the more he’ll ignore you. And… Chiying Dijun, Dong Tianyun is not someone who will submit to threats.”

Chilin was silent for a while, then stood up and walked out.

Dong Tianyun was feeding Xiang Su flower juice in the sleeping chamber. Chilin stood at the door for a while. This scene truly stuck in her heart like a thorn, but what Yu Mu and Yuanhou said was right.

“…I’m sorry.” She said softly. Just three words, yet they came out broken and stuttered.

Xiang Su felt Dong Tianyun’s hand feeding her tremble slightly. For Chilin, noble as the Fire Administrator, to bow her head and apologize like this was indeed difficult for her.

Dong Tianyun removed the bottle and placed Xiang Su on the bed. Xiang Su desperately wanted to grab his sleeve to prevent him from turning around to look at Chilin, but… she couldn’t.

“Dong Tianyun, no matter how you see me, I only sincerely and truly want to be with you.” Chilin looked into Dong Tianyun’s eyes, her voice choking but without any evasion. “I know you don’t like me. Before it was Xiang Su, now it’s this wood spirit child—you put them both before me! Getting angry today… I was wrong, but I… but I…” Tears flowed down her bright, beautiful face, filled with infinite grief. “I just want you to like me too, to value me highly as well!” Such a confession was too humiliating for Chilin. Having finished speaking, she turned to run away.

Dong Tianyun grabbed her hand. With almost no effort to detain her, Chilin had already stopped in her tracks. This was almost the first time Dong Tianyun had held back her departure.

“Your feelings… I know them all.” Dong Tianyun’s voice was somewhat low. “Perhaps even you think that my feelings toward you… are because I need Haotian Tower. Chilin, I’m just grateful that you waited for me these fifty years.”

“Dong Tianyun!” Chilin threw herself into Dong Tianyun’s embrace, weeping tears of joy. He didn’t push her away. “With these words from you, I’ll never lose my temper randomly again! I only need to know that you’ve begun to care about me—that’s enough!”

Dong Tianyun was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his hand to encircle her waist.

Xiang Su watched them. She had once planned that if the two of them got together, she would make trouble and create disturbances, but truly facing it now, she couldn’t even produce half a syllable.

Junshang still blamed her, blamed “Xiang Su” for marrying another. He felt that the person to whom he had devotedly given his heart had betrayed him. Chilin’s infatuation moved him and made him feel guilty.

Xiang Su pressed her lips together. Tears spun in her eyes, but she didn’t dare let them fall in front of Chilin.

“Junshang, I… also waited for you fifty years.” She murmured. Unexpectedly, she actually made a sound, though it was only the vague words “ten years.”

Dong Tianyun looked back in surprise, releasing Chilin. “Youyue, are you speaking?” He quickly walked to the bed and picked her up. “Did you speak?”

Xiang Su clamped her mouth tightly shut. She was terrified she might reveal the truth.

“Call me Daddy, call me Daddy.” Dong Tianyun, all smiles, shook her lightly. Xiang Su had even less desire to speak now.

Chilin narrowed her eyes watching Dong Tianyun holding the child high. No matter what heart-moving words he had said, the fact remained—his heart was now entirely devoted to this child.