“Heh heh, behold the summoning technique of a divine beast!”

Upon a cushion of soft clouds, the petite figure of a young girl, carved from pink jade, furrowed her brow in concentration. Her ten fingers danced through the air like butterflies, forming several intricate mudras before settling into a single sword finger, which she pointed forward with utmost seriousness. “By the ancient decree, with haste! Manifest!”

“Woof!”

Suddenly, a bark erupted, and a blanket of clouds was dramatically flung aside. A small, unremarkable gray dog, seemingly coated in dust, bounded forth.

“Awooo!”

Its tiny fangs were bared, attempting to appear utterly majestic.

Seated before her was a woman of peerless grace and beauty, her hand supporting her forehead in a gesture of weary resignation. “Jiang Anan, is this the secret technique you’ve been diligently researching instead of practicing calligraphy for the past few days?”

“How about it?” Jiang Anan asked gleefully. “Am I not fierce?”

“Whether you are fierce or not, I cannot say,” Ye Qingyu sighed. “But I am certainly getting a fierce headache.”

Jiang Anan shuffled closer, her small face pouting. “I was just trying to make you laugh because you seemed unhappy! I’ve already finished all my homework, really!”

She clutched her treasured squirrel pouch and produced several stacks of paper, each filled with neat and orderly characters. “Look!”

Ye Qingyu reached out and gently ruffled her hair, her voice warm. “I was just worried about my cultivation, that’s all. I wasn’t unhappy.”

“I’ll let my brother teach you when he gets back!” Jiang Anan declared with a wave of her hand, a picture of magnanimity. “My brother is very fierce!”

Ye Qingyu replied casually, “As for cultivation… my father is quite capable as well!”

Jiang Anan blinked her large eyes, tilting her head. “My brother is the world’s first, but where does Uncle Ye rank?”

Ye Qingyu: …

It was a difficult task to explain to a small child the vast chasm between the Inner Mansion realm and the Grotto-Heaven realm. The distinction between the world’s first Inner Mansion cultivator and the world’s first cultivator, period, was not easily elucidated. Moreover, a sister’s admiration for her brother was a beautiful thing, and there was no need to shatter it.

She could only manage a strained smile and say, “Very well, I’ll ask your brother to teach me later.”

Jiang Anan pondered for a moment, then asked, “Is Chu country far?”

“Quite far,” Ye Qingyu replied. “Why do you ask?”

“My brother said he went to Chu country,” Jiang Anan explained. “The people there are begging him to help them solve some labyrinth…” She summoned her small cloud crane, which dissolved into a piece of letter paper. She lay flat on the ground and began to write.

“I’ll tell my brother to bring you a gift!”

As she wrote, she turned to look at Ye Qingyu, her eyes sparkling. “What good food does Chu country have?”

Ye Qingyu was first touched, then couldn’t help but laugh and cry. “Is this gift for you to bring back, or for me?”

Jiang Anan grinned sheepishly and drew a large circle on the letter paper. Inside the circle, she wrote, “Super lots of good food,” and beside it, she added a note, “Two portions.”

After finishing, she looked at it with satisfaction and happily rolled around on the ground.

“Woof woo woo…”

Stupid Gray, ever the affectionate companion, ambled over and nuzzled her arm, emitting soft whimpers.

She pushed him away. “No share for you! You’re not even good at hiding; everyone can spot you from a mile away!”

Stupid Gray, thinking he was being praised, wagged his tail and shook his head happily.

“You’re a lost cause, you foolish dog!” Jiang Anan gently folded the letter paper and tossed it into the air. It transformed into a cloud crane and circled several times.

Stupid Gray leaped up, wanting to pounce on it, but Jiang Anan held him back.

Without a precise address, a cloud crane carrying a letter requires a response from the recipient to determine its course. Otherwise, it can only travel aimlessly for countless miles.

If the cloud crane cannot find the person, it will remain suspended indefinitely in the last place where it received a response.

That place was, in fact, where Zhao Xuan Yang of Zhongshan country had severed all of Jiang Wang’s external connections after capturing him.

Ye Qingyu, with her hands behind her back, subtly cast an illusionary technique to prevent Anan from realizing that her cloud crane was not flying towards Chu country.

As she thought of these things, a hint of melancholy inevitably crossed Ye Qingyu’s face.

Jiang Anan noticed and asked with concern, “Why are you still unhappy?”

Adults often believe they can hide their emotions from children, but the opposite is often true. Children are the most sensitive to emotions.

“Perhaps I didn’t sleep well last night…” Ye Qingyu offered an explanation, controlling her expression and forcing a gentle smile. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Jiang Anan thought for a moment, bit her lip, and then said with crisp determination, “I’ll share my brother with you!”

“Ah?” A blush suddenly bloomed on Ye Qingyu’s cheeks. “This… how do we share?”

“Let him be your brother too!” Jiang Anan declared with a grand expression, as if bestowing a great gift. “That way, you can be happy like me!”

Ye Qingyu responded with a wooden “Oh,” and immediately regained her cool demeanor. “You should go practice your calligraphy now.”

Jiang Anan: ?

Jiang Anan, whose attempt at comfort had backfired and resulted in a reprimand, pouted and walked away. Stupid Gray, with his complete lack of discernment, trotted after her, his backside wiggling.

Completely unaware that he had been “entrusted with a significant responsibility,” Jiang Wang was setting foot on the grasslands for the first time.

As far as the eye could see, it was vast, an expanse of heaven and earth!

It was like stepping out of a cramped room, brushing away spiderwebs, clouds, and thorns, to suddenly appreciate the embrace of nature’s grandeur.

It was so boundless and broad, capable of containing the most liberated of souls.

It was the autumn month, and the grasslands had already faded from their vibrant green. That “grass attire” that covered the entire landscape was a tapestry of green interwoven with yellow, and yellow dyed with red. The afternoon sun cast its light upon it, creating a truly colorful autumn!

At this time, Jiang Wang, wearing a hood and hemp clothes, was a lone traveler, leaning on his staff as he walked across the vast and boundless grassland.

The hood was the one he had worn when traveling with the stout and thin demons. The staff, however, was the Traveling Thought Staff he had obtained from Granny Bi Zhu.

Associated with this Traveling Thought Staff was a Cloud Dusk Flask, within which swam a five-colored fish possessing extreme and peculiar poison. But Jiang Wang had rarely used it.

Because its poison was too potent, rumored to be lethal with a single touch, Jiang Wang would not take it out for trivial matters. But in those few instances of true danger… he hadn’t been able to use it, or even manage to take it out at all.

Since this five-colored fish had started following Jiang Wang, it had lived a life of rare leisure, doing almost no work. It spent its days lounging in the Cloud Dusk Flask, a typical example of a free-loader.

Compared to Stupid Gray, it was simply a lazy, salted fish, a complete and utter waste of effort.

Of course, there was still a difference.

The five-colored fish was something Jiang Wang hadn’t taken out to use… Stupid Gray was simply not useful.

Jiang Wang ambled across the boundless grassland, passing wild horses, cattle, sheep, herdsmen, and lakes. He rarely felt tense, a smile on his face, his thoughts drifting far and wide.

He did not dwell on the state of the world, nor the hatred etched into his heart by the Zhuang country, nor the choices, gains, losses, and ruined reputation…

There was a rare sense of freedom.

Heaven and earth were vast, and his heart was at ease.

He was looking forward to reuniting with Xiao Wu, wondering how that boy was getting along with the princess of Mu country…

According to Xiao Wu, Uncle Deng was now a fifth-rank official, living a peaceful life. He wondered where he was selling goods now, earning a few silver coins every day?

Humanity faces many hardships, and one must seize every bit of beauty, like a torch illuminating the long night, or a flat boat crossing the bitter sea.

Meeting old friends was one such beauty.

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