Birthdays and Full Months

Seven months later, on a certain day in a certain month of the new era of the Douluo Calendar, Yali went into labor.

That day, Sea God's Pavilion was in utter chaos. Zhuo Shi paced back and forth outside the delivery room, his footsteps thudding against the floor; Feng Wuyu kept forging metal blocks to calm himself, the clanging carrying far into the distance; Cai Yue'er and Long Yeyue sat nearby, one crushing three teacups in her hand, the other gripping her cane hard enough to leave finger marks.

Yun Ming stood at the delivery room door, his back straight as a pine, though the hand hanging at his side trembled slightly.

Yun Zhiyu was held in Cai Yue'er's arms, her little hand clutching Cai Yue'er's silver hair as she stared unblinkingly at the delivery room doors. More than anyone else, she understood what this moment meant—someone who had never existed in the original story was about to be born because of her interference.

"Waaah—"

A loud cry tore through the air.

"It's born!" Zhuo Shi lunged for the door and nearly collided with the healer coming out. "How is Yali? How is the child?"

"Mother and daughter are both safe!" The healer beamed. "It's a girl, six pounds eight ounces, healthy as can be!"

Yun Ming practically rushed inside. Still in Cai Yue'er's arms, Yun Zhiyu followed him in and saw Yali lying on the bed. Her face was pale, yet she wore a smile, cradling a wrinkled little infant in her arms. Yun Ming knelt beside the bed on one knee, holding his wife's hand with one hand and gently touching his younger daughter's face with the other. The care in his movements was exactly the same as when he had first held Yun Zhiyu.

"Zhiyu," Yali called weakly, waving to her elder daughter. "Come look at your little sister."

Cai Yue'er set Yun Zhiyu down beside the bed. She clung to the edge and looked at the red, wrinkled little thing, an indescribable softness rising in her heart. This was her sister, the sister whose fate had changed because of her.

"What's her name?" Feng Wuyu asked, poking his head in from the doorway.

Yali and Yun Ming exchanged a glance and smiled. "Zhishu. Yun Zhishu. The zhi from Zhiyu, and the shu from scholarship. We hope the two sisters will grow up knowing books and reason, and giving and taking with restraint."

Yun Zhiyu reached out and gently touched her sister's tiny fist. As though she sensed it, Yun Zhishu opened her little hand and clasped her sister's finger.

The touch was soft and warm, carrying the strength of new life.

At the same time, on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Tang Ziran and his wife were ordinary Federation citizens. Having remained childless for years, they had gone to pray at the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest. Yet on their way back, they heard the cry of an infant.

In the grass lay a sleeping baby wrapped in golden swaddling clothes. A faint golden mark could be seen between his brows, and a delicate fragrance surrounded him.

"This is..." Tang Ziran's wife tremblingly picked up the baby. The child suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of clear blue-gold eyes so beautiful they hardly seemed mortal.

The baby looked at her, then suddenly smiled.

"Ziran, we..." His wife looked up at her husband, tears in her eyes.

Tang Ziran remained silent for a long time. At last, he sighed and drew both his wife and the child into his arms. "Let's take him home. From now on, he'll be our child."

"What should we name him?"

Tang Ziran looked toward the faint outline of the Star Dou Great Forest in the distance, then lowered his gaze to the golden pattern on the baby's forehead, which resembled both a dragon and a qilin. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Wulin. Tang Wulin. May he soar through the nine heavens like a dancing dragon, and bring auspiciousness like a qilin."

The baby—Tang Wulin—seemed to sense something. He waved his tiny hands and grabbed Tang Ziran's finger.

Far away in Sea God's Pavilion, Yun Zhiyu was in Yali's arms, basking in the sun alongside Zhishu. As if she sensed something, she turned toward the Star Dou Great Forest, a complicated glint flashing deep in her eyes.

At this moment, the wheels of fate quietly meshed together.

The protagonist had already appeared, while her own story was only just beginning.

Yun Zhishu's full-month celebration made Sea God's Pavilion livelier than New Year's.

Before dawn, Feng Wuyu had burrowed into the forging room and hammered out a pair of longevity locks. Their bodies were made of rare Spirit-Forged Sinking Silver, engraved with "Peace Year After Year" on the front and the Shrek Emblem on the back. Zhuo Shi somehow found two fire-attribute soul beast inner cores, claiming they would nourish the little girl's meridians, but Yali stopped him with a laugh, saying an infant could not withstand such violent energy. The old man reluctantly gave up and went to the kitchen to cook himself, nearly blowing up the stove. Cai Yue'er gave her a moonlight gauze dress she had woven herself, silver radiance flowing across it. On Yun Zhishu, she looked like a little moon. Long Yeyue was the most straightforward of all, directly setting aside an exclusive section in Sea God's Pavilion's archives for each child, saying they could choose any cultivation techniques and secret manuals they wanted in the future.

Yun Zhiyu sat in a specially made high chair, swinging her short little legs as she watched everyone bustle around. Her heart felt warm.

Over the past year, she had checked in every day, accumulating quite a few good things in her system space—peerless sword techniques like Taixu Sword Intent, blade techniques like Ninefold Thunder Blade, enough spiritual herbs and pills to fill three slots, several Martial Soul Evolution Pills, several volumes of Tang Sect Secret Arts: Advanced Volume, and more. But the most precious item was the cumulative reward triggered by completing a full year of consecutive check-ins today.

[Congratulations to the host for completing the annual cumulative check-in. Obtained: Torch Dragon Bloodline (hidden; will gradually merge as you grow older)]

[Obtained: God-grade weapon martial soul—Xuanyuan Sword (will manifest upon awakening at age six)]

[Obtained: Ice God's Chain (top-grade defensive soul device; capable of Soul-Gathering and Spirit-Nourishing)]

The Torch Dragon was the ancestor of dragons. When it opened its eyes, it became day; when it closed them, night. Its breath brought winter, and its exhalation brought summer. The system notes made it clear: the Dragon God Bloodline was merely a descendant branch of the Torch Dragon, while her bloodline came from an even more ancient source. This bloodline was far too domineering for an infant's body to bear, so it lay hidden within her, subtly improving her physique.

The changes Yun Zhiyu could feel were subtle—her night vision became increasingly clear, her perception of temperature ever sharper. Sometimes, when she napped at noon, she seemed able to hear an ancient call from deep within her bloodline, like a dragon's roar from the primordial era.

The Xuanyuan Sword was even more extraordinary. The sword of the Human Emperor, a weapon of the sacred path—if such a martial soul were revealed early, it would likely stir a bloody storm across the continent. The system had sealed it until she turned six, to be unsealed together with her innate full soul power. That was much safer.

And then there was the Ice God's Chain...

Yun Zhiyu lowered her head to look at the shimmering blue chain that had appeared around her wrist out of nowhere. It was made from something like ice and jade, warm and smooth to the touch rather than cold. The system said it had the effect of "Soul-Gathering and Spirit-Nourishing." Those four words made her heart skip a beat.

She thought of someone.

Wu Changkong.

In the original story, he had been the young man in white with a blue sword, cold as frost; an Inner Court genius of Shrek Academy and Zhuo Shi's personal disciple. He should have had a bright future, but after falling in love with Long Bing, the daughter of an evil soul master, he broke with his mentor and left the academy in anger.

Later, Long Bing's identity was exposed, and she was hunted by an evil soul master organization. Wu Changkong fought desperately to protect her, but Long Bing still died in his arms. After that battle, Wu Changkong lost all heart and became utterly despondent. He traveled far away to East Sea City, becoming a "cold and aloof heartthrob" who was little more than a walking corpse.

And judging by the timeline, only half a month remained before Wu Changkong and Zhuo Shi would have their explosive conflict and he would leave the academy in anger. Long Bing's death would come soon after that. (Author's setting.)

Yun Zhiyu clenched the Ice God's Chain. This chain could gather souls and nourish spirits. If she could give it to Wu Changkong in advance, and if it could preserve a wisp of Long Bing's soul at the crucial moment, could that tragedy be changed?

But she was only a one-year-old child. Who would believe her? And who would dare entrust such a priceless treasure to a child who had only just learned to speak?

"Zhiyu, what are you daydreaming about?" Yali walked over with Yun Zhishu in her arms and kissed her younger daughter's cheek. "Come look at your sister. She learned to grab things today."

Yun Zhishu lay in her mother's arms, her grape-like black eyes gleaming as she stuffed the silver gauze dress Cai Yue'er had given her into her mouth. Yun Zhiyu leaned out from her high chair and poked her sister's cheek. It was soft and squishy, like a rice cake.

"Little sister, dumb," she deliberately mumbled, though the corners of her mouth curled up.

Yali laughed. "You've only been talking for a few days, and you're already making fun of your sister?"

Yun Zhiyu stuck out her tongue. Her first birthday had been three days ago. That day, after "working hard" for an entire month, she had finally squeezed out a complete "Mama," making Yali burst into tears on the spot. The next day, she added "Papa." Yun Ming's usually composed handsome face had turned red for quite a while. Then he had gone straight to the Inner Court treasury, saying he wanted to find the best first-birthday gift for his daughter. In the end, he had carried back a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Warm Jade and carved it into a little rabbit, which he hung beside Yun Zhiyu's bed.

"Sis, sis!" Yun Zhishu suddenly babbled, waving her little hands wildly before accurately grabbing Yun Zhiyu's finger.

Yun Zhiyu froze. This girl was only a month old, yet she could already vaguely call someone? She remembered that Life Water had not only improved Yali's constitution, but had likely benefited the fetus during pregnancy as well. Yun Zhishu's talent would probably far surpass that of children her age in the original story.

"Zhishu is calling for you." Yali gently rocked her younger daughter. "You two sisters must love each other for the rest of your lives."

Yun Zhiyu clasped her sister's hand in return and gave it a gentle shake. She looked out the window, where Sea God Lake shimmered beneath the sunlight and the Inner Court buildings rose in orderly layers in the distance. Wu Changkong should be practicing his swordsmanship somewhere in that area, while Zhuo Shi was probably instructing him at this very moment.

She had to think of a way.

The afternoon sunlight was pleasantly warm. Using "taking a nap" as an excuse, Yun Zhiyu was carried back to her room by Cai Yue'er. Once the footsteps had faded away, she immediately took out the Ice God's Chain from her system space, along with a pebble she had "casually picked up" over the past few days—though it was actually leftover scrap from Feng Wuyu's forging, and she had secretly hidden away several pieces.

Her infant fingers were chubby and clumsy, but she still struggled to wrap the Ice God's Chain around the pebble and tie it in a dead knot. The instant the chain touched the stone, a faint blue glow flashed before withdrawing. It now looked like an ordinary blue stone, except it felt unusually cool to the touch.

"What next..." Yun Zhiyu bit her finger as she thought.

Go directly to Yun Ming? Her father did dote on her, but how could she explain a clearly extraordinary item appearing in the hands of a one-year-old? Go to Zhuo Shi? The old man looked rough, but he was actually extremely meticulous. He would surely question its origin.

She needed to make all of this look like an "accident."

The opportunity came the following evening.

As usual, Zhuo Shi came to Sea God's Pavilion to visit the two girls, carrying a string of candied hawthorns for Yun Zhiyu. Although Yali said the child was too young to eat them, the old man brought them every time, claiming that they "looked festive." Yun Zhiyu sat on the carpet with a pile of tiny metal toys forged by Feng Wuyu in front of her, "intently" building a castle.

"Grandpa Zhuo Shi!" She lifted her little face, flashed a toothless smile, and held out her arms to be picked up.

Zhuo Shi's heart instantly melted. He set the candied hawthorns on the table, bent down, picked up the little girl, and spun her around. "Has little Zhiyu been good today? Did you bully your sister?"

"Good—" Yun Zhiyu drew out the word, then suddenly lowered her head "carelessly" toward a corner of the carpet. "Shiny!"

Zhuo Shi followed her gaze and saw the pebble wrapped in the blue chain lying quietly among the metal building blocks. Its faint blue glow flickered beneath the evening sun.

"What's this?" Zhuo Shi set her down and curiously picked up the stone. The instant it touched his hand, his pupils contracted sharply.

With the cultivation of a Titled Douluo, he immediately sensed the extraordinary nature of this "stone." The faint blue light contained incomparably pure energy—gentle yet profound, as though it could soothe every restless soul. Even stranger, the old injuries left in his body from years of battle eased slightly at that touch.

"Zhiyu's treasure!" Yun Zhiyu pounced toward it as if she were trying to snatch it back, her little face full of the stubbornness of a child protecting her toy.

Zhuo Shi hurriedly crouched down and held the stone high. "Hey, hey, Grandpa's just taking a look. I'll give it back after."

He turned it over and examined it again and again, growing more shocked the longer he looked. This material was definitely not from an ordinary soul device. Even he could not recognize all the ancient runes on the chain, but its Soul-Gathering and Spirit-Nourishing effects were undeniable. He thought of his stubborn mule of a disciple—Wu Changkong's soul power had been somewhat unstable during cultivation lately, as if inner demons plagued him. If he had this item to nourish him...

"Zhiyu, where did you get this stone?" Zhuo Shi softened his voice as much as he could.

Yun Zhiyu tilted her head, her grape-like black eyes crystal clear as she replied in a childish voice, "Picked, picked it up! Shiny, pretty!"

"Where did you pick it up?"

"Lake, lakeside!" She pointed out the window toward Sea God Lake. "Lots of shiny things. Zhiyu took one!"

Zhuo Shi frowned. There really were ancient ruins beneath Sea God Lake, and strange objects were occasionally washed ashore by the waves. This child had probably stumbled upon a true treasure by accident. But such a precious artifact, used as a toy by an infant?