Just as Lin Zhiyue finished settling Tuanzi after waking up in the morning, the system's light screen popped up with a "ding." Her eyes lit up, thinking it was a limited-time quest that rewarded tickets. She quickly opened it to take a look—
【Limited-Time Quest Issued: Go to the third floor of the Library and study for an entire day (at least six shichen). Quest Reward: Premium Draw Ticket ×5. Countdown: From the hour of Mao today to the hour of Mao tomorrow.】
The smile on her face froze instantly.
Five Premium Draw Tickets was not a small amount, but the problem was that today was the day she had agreed to practice swordsmanship with Qi Yan.
Since she had started learning the Tiance Sword Art, Qi Yan had supervised her practice personally every single day, without fail. If she suddenly flaked on him, he might not say anything, but... she couldn't keep flaking on him forever!
“Are you doing this on purpose?” she gnashed her teeth in her mind. “Every time I finally arrange to practice with Master, you pop up a quest! Last time, when I went into seclusion and flaked for half a month, you also picked exactly that moment!”
The system popped up a line of text, its tone carrying a hint of innocence: 【The quest rewards five Premium Draw Tickets. The host may weigh the pros and cons herself. The books on the third floor of the Library contain a wealth of information regarding spirit beast rearing, which will also be helpful for the host in raising Yuetuan and Honghong.】
Lin Zhiyue took a deep breath, closed the light screen, and stood up to pace around the courtyard. Tuanzi squatted in his nest and tilted his head up to look at her, his pale blue eyes filled with curiosity, as if wondering why his master had suddenly become so anxious.
She walked to the courtyard gate and back again, before finally resigning herself to her fate. Pushing open the gate, she made her way toward the main peak. When she reached the entrance of Qi Yan's residence, she stood on the steps and gave herself three pep talks before finally knocking on the door.
Qi Yan was in the courtyard wiping his blade, a routine he performed every single morning. He looked up and saw her standing at the entrance, looking as if she had something to say but was hesitating. Without stopping his movements, he simply asked, “What is it now?”
Lin Zhiyue opened her mouth, suddenly realizing that every time she came to see Qi Yan, she was either asking for leave, going into seclusion, or skipping sword class. It felt like she had never done anything productive.
She steeled herself and spoke up. “Master... I would like to ask for a day off from sword class today. I have some matters to attend to at the Library... and will probably need to stay there the entire day.”
Qi Yan's hand paused, and he raised his eyes to look at her. His gaze was knowing, as if he weren't at all surprised by her visit. After a brief pause, he asked, “What are you going to the Library to read?”
“Books on spirit beast rearing,” Lin Zhiyue told the truth. “And... a few other things while I'm at it.”
Qi Yan stared at her for a moment, then placed his blade back onto the stone table. His tone remained perfectly calm. “Go on then. You will make up for it tomorrow.”
Lin Zhiyue hastily gave an affirmative reply and turned to leave. But after taking only a few steps, a faint voice drifted from behind her.
“No sleeping in the Library.”
Her footsteps faltered slightly, and without looking back, she quickened her pace and hurried away.
Behind her, Qi Yan picked up his polishing cloth again to wipe the blade. A slight twitch seemed to touch the corner of his lips, but it quickly vanished.
As Lin Zhiyue walked up the stone steps leading to the Library, she cursed the system eight hundred times in her mind. The system's light screen hung quietly in the corner of her vision, and only after a long while did a line of small text pop up: 【Host, the row of seats by the window on the third floor of the Library is the warmest. It is recommended that you sit there.】
Lin Zhiyue paused for a split second, her lips twitching. In her mind, she snapped back, “Shut up,” and quickened her pace toward the Library's main entrance.
After sitting down by the window on the third floor of the Library, Lin Zhiyue spent over half a shichen flipping through a spirit beast encyclopedia.
She had originally only wanted to search for records regarding Tuanzi, but as she flipped through the pages, she suddenly thought of Honghong. Following the index, she turned to the volume dedicated to deer-type spirit beasts.
When she reached the page for the “Seven-Colored Deer,” her finger froze on the paper. She read it back and forth three times before she could confirm that her eyes were not playing tricks on her.
Illustrated in the encyclopedia was an elegant spiritual deer with seven-colored patterns swirling across its back, looking almost identical to Honghong.
Next to it was a small caption: Seven-Colored Deer. Possesses ancient spirit beast bloodline. Once the top choice of mount for high-level cultivators. Gentle in nature, pure in spiritual energy, and highly intelligent.
It is rumored that in areas of extremely dense spiritual energy, there is an incredibly low probability for it to evolve into a Nine-Colored Deer, at which point its bloodline will ascend to that of a Half-Divine Beast.
There have been no records of its appearance for over a thousand years; it is universally acknowledged as extinct.
Lin Zhiyue stared at the word “extinct” for a long moment, then quietly closed the book.
No wonder the system had set up a “limited-time card pool” to draw a hidden mount back then; it turned out to be an extinct creature. She recalled the first few days after she had drawn Honghong, when she had contemplated riding it around Tiance Palace to familiarize herself with the terrain, but had ultimately decided against it because it seemed like too much trouble.
Looking back, it was a stroke of luck that she hadn't. A creature with the bloodline of a Half-Divine Beast that had been extinct for thousands of years—if she were to parade it around Tiance Palace, the entire Sanglan Realm would probably be in an uproar by the next day.
As she was thinking, the system's light screen suddenly popped up a line of text: 【The host need not worry too much. The Seven-Colored Deer can actively restrain its spiritual light and adjust its body size and physical characteristics. You only need to guide Honghong to disguise itself. In its disguised form, its appearance will be identical to a normal spiritual deer, retaining only a few subtle signs of internal spiritual energy. This will not affect its daily use.】
After reading this, a huge weight was lifted from Lin Zhiyue's chest.
She stood up, walked to the end of an empty corridor in a corner of the third floor, and released Honghong from the system space.
The Seven-Colored Deer landed on the floor of the corridor, its four hooves treading upon a seven-colored halo. It tilted its head to look at her, its dark brown, round eyes filled with a gentle curiosity.
Lin Zhiyue squatted down and stroked its forehead, whispering, “Honghong, can you change into the appearance of a normal spiritual deer? You know... make your colors less flashy. Just looking normal is fine.”
Honghong blinked, seemingly understanding her words.
It lowered its head to gently press its forehead against Lin Zhiyue's palm, and the swirling seven-colored patterns across its body began to slowly recede.
The seven colors—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—dimmed one by one, merging into a layer of soft, light brown fur. The colorful patterns on its back faded until only a very faint, silver-gray streak remained, almost invisible unless one looked closely.
The golden glow at the tips of its antlers also dimmed into a common light gray. Standing quietly in the corridor, the deer truly looked like nothing more than a slightly better-looking spiritual deer. No one who saw it would give it a second thought.
Lin Zhiyue walked around it twice, feeling extremely satisfied.
The Seven-Colored Deer's disguise ability was incredibly natural. Its fur color was even and soft, and its body appeared slightly rounder than before, making it look completely harmless.
She stroked Honghong's neck. “This is perfect. Just transform like this when we're outside, and you can change back when it's just us.”
Honghong gave a gentle flick of its tail, as if in agreement.
Lin Zhiyue recalled it into the system space and returned to sit by the window. She flipped through the pages in her hand again, suddenly recalling Qi Yan's expression when he had first seen Honghong. He had only glanced at it before looking away, and she hadn't paid much attention to his hesitant look back then. But thinking about it now, he had probably recognized it long ago.
She quietly thought to herself that, in any case, her master would never harm her, so everything else was secondary.
She leaned against the window, closing her eyes for a moment, the sunlight from outside casting a warm, golden glow over the characters on the pages.
Rate on N.U.
