The Sea God's Pavilion's Beloved

Shrek Academy's Inner Court was located on the island at the heart of Sea God Lake, while Sea God's Pavilion was the most mysterious place on the island. When Yun Ming stepped onto Sea God Island carrying the swaddled Yun Zhiyu, the first to rush out was an old man in crimson robes. His beard and hair were both fiery red, and from afar, he looked like a rolling ball of flame.

"Yun Ming! I heard Yali picked up a baby?" Zhuo Shi's booming voice sent ripples across the lake as he hurried over in two strides. Yet the moment he saw the little face in the swaddling clothes, he abruptly stopped. "Whoa, this little girl is adorable. She takes after Yali."

Yun Zhiyu was drinking soul beast milk from the bottle Yali held for her. Hearing that, she rolled her eyes toward the Scarlet Dragon Douluo, whose temper had been notoriously explosive in the original story. Zhuo Shi did indeed look fierce, with an old scar slashing diagonally across his brow. But at that moment, he deliberately softened his breathing and fully restrained even his violent fire-attributed soul power, as though afraid of startling the child.

"Can I hold her?" Zhuo Shi rubbed his hands together. When Yun Ming raised a brow, he immediately added, "Just for a little while! I know how to be gentle!"

Yali smiled and handed her daughter over. Zhuo Shi received the swaddled baby as stiffly as if he were holding a fragile piece of glass, both arms stretched taut and straight, which Yun Zhiyu found rather amusing. She had held babies while volunteering at an orphanage in her previous life and knew that posture was exhausting, yet Zhuo Shi maintained it for a full quarter of an hour, until Feng Wuyu rushed over from the forging room.

"Zhuo Shi, are you holding a baby or lifting weights?" Feng Wuyu wore work clothes, metal shavings still clinging to his hands. But the moment he saw Yun Zhiyu, his eyes lit up. "Such pure spiritual fluctuations. This child has extraordinary talent."

He was one of the few Saint Craftsman-ranked blacksmiths in the world, and his perception of spiritual power was exceptionally sharp. Yun Zhiyu's heart tightened. Instinctively, she reined in the slightly unusual spiritual fluctuations caused by the system, then put on an innocent baby's smile and babbled as she reached for Feng Wuyu's beard.

"Oh, this little girl likes me!" Feng Wuyu beamed so broadly that his beard seemed to stick straight up. He pulled a warm metal block from his pocket. "Here, Grandpa Feng has a gift for you. A teething stick polished from Millennium Sinking Silver, free of impurities."

Zhuo Shi rolled his eyes beside him. "You're giving forging material to a baby as a teething toy?"

"What do you know? I tempered this Sinking Silver for forty-nine days. It's perfectly gentle." Feng Wuyu carefully tucked the metal block into Yun Zhiyu's hand, then seemed to recall something. "By the way, Yun Ming, if this girl has a talent for forging after her martial soul awakens, she must take me as her master."

"She was only born a few days ago," Yun Ming said helplessly.

"I'm reserving her in advance!" Feng Wuyu declared righteously.

Yun Zhiyu held the piece of Sinking Silver. It felt as warm and smooth as jade. As she sensed the faint circulation of soul power within it, the forging knowledge granted by the system automatically analyzed the metal's internal structure—its impurities had indeed been removed with remarkable thoroughness, but the temperature during quenching had been off by the slightest margin, leaving minor flaws in the crystal lattice.

The discovery left her stunned. The knowledge given by the system was actually this detailed.

"Let me see our little treasure." A gentle female voice sounded as Silver Moon Douluo Cai Yue'er approached at an unhurried pace. She was a female elder of the Inner Court, with snow-white hair and a cool, aloof air. Yet at the sight of Yun Zhiyu, she revealed a rare smile. "Her eyes and brows resemble Yali's, but her features carry some of Yun Ming's heroic spirit."

She gently tapped Yun Zhiyu's nose. Her fingertip carried a moonlight-like chill, yet it made Yun Zhiyu feel incomparably comfortable. Cai Yue'er's martial soul was Silver Moon, gentle and yin in nature, and it possessed a natural affinity for infants.

"Yue'er, don't freeze her." An elderly voice came from the pavilion. Light and Dark Douluo Long Yeyue slowly emerged, leaning on a cane. She was the oldest elder of Sea God's Pavilion, her hair completely white, yet her eyes were bright and keen. The aura around her was so perfectly harmonious that one could not tell whether it was light or darkness.

Yun Zhiyu was shaken. This was an old monster who had lived for nearly two hundred years, someone who had rarely appeared in the original story. She had not expected Long Yeyue to show herself for her.

Long Yeyue walked closer. A glint of sharpness flashed through her clouded eyes. She did not touch Yun Zhiyu, merely watched her quietly for a moment before suddenly smiling. "What fine fortune. Yun Ming, Yali, this girl shares no shallow fate with you. Her fate with Shrek runs even deeper."

Holding her daughter, Yali replied gently, "Elder Long is right. On the day we found her, the rain cleared, and a rainbow hung in the sky all day without fading."

"Not only that," Long Yeyue said, shaking her head without further explanation. She simply drew a jade pendant from her sleeve and tied it to Yun Zhiyu's swaddling clothes. "A gift from this old woman. It nourishes the meridians, calms the mind, and steadies the soul. Little one, grow up quickly."

Feeling the warm energy flowing from the jade pendant, Yun Zhiyu knew it was a truly precious item. She gave Long Yeyue a toothless smile, waving her little hands and babbling as though thanking her.

"Heh, this girl is clever!" Zhuo Shi laughed. "Much cuter than Yun Ming was as a child."

Yun Ming: "..."

The daily life of Sea God's Pavilion quietly changed because of this tiny infant.

Every morning without fail, Zhuo Shi delivered the freshest soul beast milk, claiming that milk warmed by a fire-attributed soul master would not cool easily. Every few days, Feng Wuyu produced some little trinket, from tempered metal bells to miniature forging hammers, calling it "cultivating her interest early." Cai Yue'er often carried Yun Zhiyu along the lakeside on moonlit nights, silver radiance cascading over them as the two figures, one large and one small, formed a tranquil painting. And whenever Long Yeyue occasionally basked in the sun before the pavilion, she would have Yali bring Yun Zhiyu over. She never said anything, only watched her, her gaze as distant as though she were looking into some faraway past.

Yun Zhiyu enjoyed this warmth, but she never forgot her plan.

Life Water floated quietly within the system space, its emerald liquid emitting a faint halo. She waited for a suitable opportunity—one that would not arouse suspicion or expose anything unusual.

The chance came a month later. That day, Yali was holding her and coaxing her to sleep when she suddenly let out a soft sigh.

Yun Zhiyu keenly sensed the melancholy in that sigh. Opening her eyes, she saw Yali staring distractedly out the window at a pair of Inner Court students who were clearly a couple. The girl's lower belly was slightly rounded, while the boy carefully supported her. Both faces brimmed with the joy of becoming parents.

"Zhiyu, shall Mommy sing you a song?" Yali quickly withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and softly hummed an ancient lullaby.

Yun Zhiyu watched Yali's profile. Under the moonlight, an unresolvable regret lay hidden deep within those gentle eyes.

She remembered Yali's tragic ending in the original story. Before that, Yali had spent her entire life unable to have a child of her own. That thought made Yun Zhiyu firm in her resolve.

She pretended to grow sleepy and closed her eyes. The instant Yali placed her in the cradle, her thoughts stirred the system space. That drop of Life Water transformed into an emerald mist invisible to the naked eye, drifting out with her breath. Then, as she turned over "unconsciously," it lightly brushed across the back of Yali's hand.

The instant the Life Water entered her body, Yali shuddered from head to toe. Looking down at her hand, she felt an incomparably warm energy seep through the back of it and travel through her meridians to every corner of her body. Wherever it passed, it was like rain after a long drought. Those meridians that had withered from the strain of her earlier years were suddenly bursting with life again.

"This is..." Yali froze in place as she sensed the earth-shaking changes within her body. Instinctively, she looked toward her daughter in the cradle. Yun Zhiyu was sleeping soundly, her little mouth slightly open, utterly unaware.

Yali crouched down and gently held her daughter's little hand. It was warm and soft, carrying the unique milky scent of a baby. She recalled Long Yeyue's words that day—"fine fortune"—and the rainbow that had lingered so long when she found Yun Zhiyu. A certain thought in her heart gradually became clear.

But she did not speak of it. She merely bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her daughter's forehead.

"Thank you, little Zhiyu."

Yun Zhiyu's eyelashes trembled, but she did not open her eyes.

Three months later, Yali was confirmed to be pregnant during a routine examination.

The news caused a tremendous stir in Sea God's Pavilion. Zhuo Shi knocked over the tea Feng Wuyu had just brewed on the spot. Feng Wuyu tore several hairs from his own beard in shock. The silver radiance in Cai Yue'er's hand nearly went out of control. Even Long Yeyue rarely widened her eyes.

"Yali, you..." Yun Ming held his wife's hand, his normally steady voice trembling slightly.

Yali leaned against her husband's shoulder, but her gaze fell on Yun Zhiyu's cradle nearby. The little baby was clutching the Sinking Silver teething stick Feng Wuyu had given her and playing with it happily, as though everything around her had nothing to do with her.

"Perhaps Zhiyu brought us this blessing," Yali said softly, with meaning behind her words.

Yun Ming followed her gaze, deep in thought. He remembered the changes in Yali's body over the past three months—her complexion had grown rosier by the day, her soul power had circulated ever more smoothly, and even her cultivation, stagnant for years, showed signs of breaking through. All of it had begun on the day they found Yun Zhiyu.

He walked to the cradle and gently picked up his daughter. Yun Zhiyu tilted up her little face, her black grape-like eyes clear to the bottom, reflecting Yun Ming's somewhat complicated expression.

"Little Zhiyu," Yun Ming said softly, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "was it you?"

Yun Zhiyu blinked, then suddenly grinned, revealing her pink gums as she reached for Yun Ming's nose. She looked so innocent that anyone would have thought her nothing more than an ordinary baby.

Yun Ming fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled as well. He lifted his daughter high, then caught her steadily, drawing a delighted laugh from Yun Zhiyu.

"Whether it was you or not," Yun Ming said softly, his voice carrying a solemn promise, "you are still Father's daughter. That will never change."

Yun Zhiyu's laughter faltered. She looked into Yun Ming's eyes. There was no probing, no wariness, only a deep tenderness that seemed to embrace everything.

Suddenly, her nose stung. Her infant body could not control its physiological response; her eyes grew hot, and tears truly began to fall.

"Why are you crying?" Yali hurried over and took her daughter from her husband's arms. "Did you hold her too tightly?"

"I didn't..." Yun Ming protested helplessly.

Yun Zhiyu buried her face in the hollow of Yali's shoulder, breathing in that reassuring medicinal fragrance as her tears flowed even harder. She remembered the life that had ended abruptly at twenty-two in a car accident, the biological parents she had never seen in the orphanage, and the fear and despair when she first crossed into this world.

And now, someone was telling her that no matter who she was, no matter what secrets she carried, she was his daughter.

That acceptance was more precious than any reward the system could offer.

Yali's pregnancy went smoothly. Life Water had not only repaired her body but also improved her constitution, and the fetus developed exceptionally well.

Every day, Yun Zhiyu was carried over to see Yali. Watching her mother's belly gradually swell, a strange feeling rose in her heart—she was going to have a little sister. In this other world, she would have a true relative, a life that had come into being because of her.