"She got away again!" Bai Shengyi cursed, "What rotten luck!"
The Reincarnation Brush zipped merrily above Bai Shengyi's head, spilling emerald spiritual energy from its body, leaving a long, cheerful little tail.
It said, "Let her go, let her go. We got the Divine Fire anyway! Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day it is today..."
Sensing Bai Shengyi's "unpleasant" gaze, the Reincarnation Brush chuckled and with a "whoosh," flew into Bai Shengyi's spiritual consciousness.
"Bibi will go study the Blazing Sun Scarlet Fire first. Shengyi, call me if you need anything!"
Listening to the Reincarnation Brush's voice, which was almost overflowing with joy, Bai Shengyi shook her head. Yun Youyue's sudden disappearance was truly strange. Could there be spatial rifts within this mustard seed layer...
"Ayi? Was that brush the spiritual artifact your mother left you?"
The tentative inquiry pulled Bai Shengyi's thoughts back.
Only then did Bai Shengyi look towards the young cultivator lying on the ground not far away. Even in his current disheveled state, one could glimpse his refined and elegant appearance and demeanor.
This was the father of her current body.
Bai Shengyi opened her mouth, thinking she would find it difficult to call him. But upon meeting those gentle and loving eyes, a single word slipped out.
"Dad!"
She stepped forward and helped Bai Qingjiang up.
While helping him, Bai Shengyi also checked Bai Qingjiang's injuries. Under the cover of wood-elemental spiritual energy, the Spiritual Healing Technique entered Bai Qingjiang's body, quietly mending some of his internal injuries.
Bai Qingjiang felt a sudden lightness all over his body, his eyes filled with relief. "Ayi, your medical skills are much more advanced than your father's. You must have finished reading the Bai Family's Medica too, right?"
Bai Shengyi's hand paused.
She had forgotten that when Bai Qingjiang left, the original owner hadn't yet tested her aptitude. This meant Bai Qingjiang had no idea that Bai Shengyi had been deemed a waste by the Bai family, nor the subsequent events.
However, she *had* finished reading the Bai Family's Medica.
That Medica was truly worthy of the envy of powers like the royal family, the Mei family, and the Zheng family. She wondered what the Bai family had done in the past, as their inherited Medica recorded many spiritual plants, spiritual items, and ancient medicinal formulas and prescriptions that had long been lost.
Bai Shengyi nodded. "Mm. Your spiritual energy is severely depleted. Eat this."
As she spoke, she took out a seventh-tier Spirit Sustaining Pill and a Spring Return Pill and handed them to Bai Qingjiang. Bai Qingjiang smiled, took them, and consumed them.
He praised, "Did you refine these yourself, Ayi? They're all top-grade, excellent."
It wasn't that he hadn't noticed Bai Shengyi's unfamiliarity and distance from him, but Bai Qingjiang didn't think much of it, as he felt it was normal.
Having left his daughter at such a young age, even with her grandfather and elder siblings looking after her, their presence couldn't replace that of a father and mother.
Five or six years had passed in the blink of an eye. Bai Qingjiang looked at his daughter, now gracefully tall and exceptionally outstanding, feeling only profound guilt and a desire to understand everything about her now.
"Ayi, why are you here?"
Bai Shengyi was scanning her surroundings.
"I walked here by feeling."
Bai Shengyi wasn't lying, nor was she being perfunctory. It was the truth.
After Qin Si fell unconscious for no reason and her spiritual energy also disappeared, followed by the pursuit of Dao Lord Honglian, she had tried to find a safe place to examine Qin Si more carefully. But after only two steps, Qin Si vanished before her eyes!
Bai Shengyi had no direction to pursue, and finally, she could only rely on her intuition to keep moving forward, not expecting to run into Bai Qingjiang and Yun Youyue.
Speaking of which, the directions Qin Si and Yun Youyue disappeared in were quite similar.
Bai Shengyi mused, then suddenly felt something was not right in the darkness ahead, though she couldn't quite pinpoint it. A glimpse of moonlight revealed a Void Beast running towards them.
She frowned, gripping her long sword, ready to strike, but was stopped by Bai Qingjiang.
"No! Ayi, that's Xiao Ye, my previous contracted beast. It means no harm."
As Bai Qingjiang finished speaking, the Void Beast had already run up to him, nuzzling his shoulder affectionately and dependently, letting out soft "mewing" sounds.
"So obedient," Bai Shengyi couldn't help but say.
She couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. If only her Crescent Moon Cat would act this spoiled towards her, tsk, she shouldn't think about it, the more she thought, the more she wanted to forcibly contract Er Gou.
Bai Shengyi shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and asked Bai Qingjiang, "Dad, you're guarding here, is there something in front?"
She had noticed that one of Bai Qingjiang's hands was continuously forming hand seals.
Bai Qingjiang hadn't expected Bai Shengyi to be so perceptive, but he then smiled proudly. She was indeed his daughter.
He explained, "It's not that there's something in front, but I suspect there's a spatial layer ahead, and your mother might be inside."
When he spoke of Bai Shengyi's mother, Bai Qingjiang's voice involuntarily softened.
"After I came to the outer continent, I've been looking for your mother's whereabouts. I heard someone say they saw her at Yunshan Peak in Yueqing Mountain, so I followed all the way here."
"She and I were fortunate enough to obtain a Penglai thread. Have you heard of this thread? Within a certain range, it allows mutual sensing. If one person is in trouble, the other can transfer their spiritual energy to them."
That was why his spiritual energy was depleting so quickly, and why he appeared so weak when facing Yun Youyue.
Bai Qingjiang had been waiting here for three months. At first, he was merely enduring, and then he began taking pills for himself while sending spiritual energy to Yue Shuxin.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered entering that spatial layer, but no matter how he searched, he couldn't find an entrance. Instead, he accidentally formed a contract with Xiao Ye.
"Mew~"
The little Void Beast suddenly let out a soft cry towards Bai Shengyi.
Bai Shengyi exclaimed in surprise, "It has intelligence now?"
"Mm," Bai Qingjiang didn't hide it.
"Then what did it just say?"
Bai Qingjiang hesitated for a moment before saying, "It said to help me, and that it can help. Ayi, you must have your own matters to attend to here, right? You don't need to worry about me—"
But Bai Shengyi had already beckoned to the little Void Beast, coaxing with a smile, "Come here, how can you help me?"
She looked up at Bai Qingjiang and said, "Since both you and Mom are here, how can I not care?"
Although she hadn't spent time with Bai Qingjiang or Yue Shuxin, she could tell from the memories that this couple doted on their daughter.
Of course, they were both very kind people. Otherwise, they wouldn't have adopted two children when they already had their own.
Bai Qingjiang frowned, then finally said, "Then be extremely careful. This place is very dangerous. If you sense anything is wrong, leave immediately, don't worry about me."
Bai Shengyi waved at him, indicating she knew what she was doing.
"Mew!"
The little Void Beast nibbled at Bai Shengyi's sleeve, signaling for her to follow it. This time, even Bai Qingjiang didn't know what it was saying.
Bai Shengyi had no choice but to follow the little Void Beast forward.