It's Called Chapter Two

Star Dou Great Forest. Night.

Some time had passed since Di Tian last mentioned that name. Gu Yue's daily routine had completely stabilized, and the Silver Dragon King's divine sense recovered another layer each day, like slowly wiping clean a dust-covered mirror. Di Tian was still gathering fragments of information about the "Nine-Headed White Tiger," and beasts had also been sent to watch the direction of East Sea City—though he said nothing, all the savage beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest had noticed one thing.

The Beast God was tense.

His way of being tense was peculiar. He did not curse or fly into a rage. He simply spoke less. So little that it made one's skin crawl.

Gu Yue paid it no mind.

She lived alone in the Stone Palace at the deepest part of the core region. There were no attendants, and no beast dared approach. Before the Stone Palace lay a small clearing with several crooked ancient trees. Moonlight filtered through gaps in their canopies, sparse and scattered, like old white cloth worn thin by use.

That night, Gu Yue sat on the stone platform before the Stone Palace, meditating with her eyes closed.

Then, she opened her eyes.

There had been no warning. No killing intent, no fluctuations of aura. It was merely something older than instinct—in nature, prey knew the instant it was being watched that there were eyes behind it. That was exactly how she felt now.

Someone was watching her.

Gu Yue's violet pupils narrowed slightly beneath the moonlight.

Twenty paces away, atop the roots of a crooked ancient tree, crouched a small white shape.

It was tiny. Truly tiny. About the size of an adult housecat, its snow-white fur glimmered with a faint silver sheen beneath the moonlight. It had a round little head, ears not yet fully grown and drooping at either side, and large, round amber eyes that were presently doing their utmost to look fierce.

A Little White Tiger.

More precisely, a young White Tiger that had not even fully weaned, its tail still covered in baby fuzz.

Gu Yue stared at it. It stared back at Gu Yue.

An indescribable awkwardness filled the air.

The White Tiger cub broke the silence first. It opened its mouth, revealing two milk teeth—yes, two, and the one on the right even had a chip—and let out a roar that seemed earthshaking to it, but sounded to Gu Yue like a kitten yawning.

"Awwo."

Gu Yue remained expressionless.

The White Tiger cub seemed dissatisfied with that response. It hopped down from the tree roots and waddled forward on four short little legs, trying hard to walk with the swagger of someone who feared no one. Its tail stood straight up like an antenna, its fur puffed out all over. From a distance, it looked like a snowball actively rolling toward her.

It stopped three steps away. Looking up, it opened its mouth again.

"Aw—wooo!"

This time, it was much louder, though its voice cracked at the end. Startled by its own cracked voice, the cub blinked, then quickly put on a stern expression, trying to make up for its technical mistake with sheer facial seriousness.

Gu Yue finally spoke.

"...What are you here for?"

Upon hearing her speak, the White Tiger cub instinctively took a small step back. Then it took two large steps forward, proving through action that it was not afraid. It sat down, raised one forepaw, and solemnly licked the fur on the back of it before looking at Gu Yue with those round amber eyes.

From those eyes, Gu Yue sensed a faint but unmistakable thread of divine intent.

The cub's spiritual sea, like its teeth, had not fully developed yet. The divine intent came through in broken fragments, mixed with a brief memory of the cub itself staring at a beetle. Yet Gu Yue received its core meaning clearly.

"She told me to... come see you."

Gu Yue's violet pupils contracted sharply.

"She?"

The White Tiger cub tilted its head, apparently trying to recall how to pronounce that name. It thought for several seconds, then opened its mouth—not to roar, but to imitate a human syllable with great difficulty.

"...Men."

Lu Menge.

Gu Yue rose from the stone platform.

The movement came without thought. Her body had reacted before her reason. The Silver Dragon King's pride would not allow her to stand merely upon hearing a name, but ancient instinct was more honest than the Silver Dragon King—the being whose existence even Di Tian only dared piece together from fragments had just sent a cub still losing its baby teeth to find her location with absolute precision.

To find this clearing before the Stone Palace.

To find the stone platform beneath that crooked ancient tree.

Within the core region known as the forbidden ground of the Star Dou Great Forest.

More than twenty hundred-thousand-year savage beasts stood guard nearby.

Yet not a single one had been alerted.

Gu Yue narrowed her violet eyes. At last, a trace of genuine coldness surfaced in those eyes that were always cool and composed.

"Where is she?"

The cub blinked. Another thread of divine intent came through, even more fragmented than before. Clearly, it was doing its best to relay words it had not fully remembered—the general meaning was that she said she was somewhere far away, but not too far; she said you had only just awakened, and your body had not fully recovered, so do not run around recklessly; and she also said—

The cub paused here, as though deciding whether it should relay the final sentence. After an intense internal struggle, it chose to tell the truth, because honesty was a virtue of this beast.

"...Di Tian's way of finding people is too old-fashioned."

Gu Yue stood where she was, moonlight turning her silver hair frost-white.

A night wind swept past, rustling the leaves of the ancient trees. Having completed its task, the White Tiger cub seemed to relax and began chasing its own tail. After two circles without catching it, it slammed headfirst into Gu Yue's ankle, then immediately sat upright as though nothing had happened.

Gu Yue looked down at the fluffy white bundle.

Her expression revealed neither pleasure nor anger. But the fingers of the hand hanging at her side twitched slightly.

Was it killing intent? No.

It was something more complicated. A milk-drinking cub had delivered a message to her. A being who had never shown herself had moved before her. After being dealt such a blow by the other party, all her resentment, vigilance, and forcibly suppressed curiosity mixed together, becoming that minute movement.

In the end, she did nothing.

The White Tiger cub yawned. Delivering the message had consumed a great deal of its spiritual sea, and it was sleepy. It swayed as it backed up two steps, then froze as though it had suddenly remembered something. Another thread of divine intent came flying over.

This message contained even more information—more than all the previous ones put together—enough to make Gu Yue frown slightly.

Then, the cub raised a forepaw, turned around, and ran two steps toward the depths of the forest.

Before it had even run five steps, a faint white glow rippled out from its tiny body. The air trembled softly, and the cub's form turned transparent beneath the moonlight before—vanishing.

It was not invisibility. It was not teleportation. It was some older law. As though this world itself had opened a path for it, then closed that path after it passed through. The entire process contained no spatial soul power fluctuations whatsoever. Even divine sense could not detect any lingering trace.

Like a gust of wind, it came and went, taking nothing away and leaving only moonlight behind.

Gu Yue stood there for a long time without moving.

After a long while, she slowly raised her right hand.

Her palm faced upward, fingers slightly spread.

A white glow rose from her palm—faint, completely unlike the attribute of her own power. It was the final cluster of divine intent the cub had left her.

The white glow slowly unfurled in the air, turning into a line of words. The handwriting was crooked and uneven, every stroke written in the oldest beast-clan script, yet carrying a frivolity and languidness that belonged to no ancient being.

Gu Yue looked at that line.

Those crooked ancient words reflected in her violet eyes. Her expression remained calm, but her breathing—for the first time in her long life, because of someone she had never met—slowed by half a beat.

Then she curled her fingers and crushed that cluster of divine intent.

Fragments leaked through her fingers, scattering into faint light before they reached the ground, leaving nothing behind.

Gu Yue turned and walked toward the Stone Palace. When she reached the entrance, her steps paused.

"...Lu Menge."

She spoke those three words softly and slowly, breaking apart every syllable as though chewing it to pieces before letting it leave her lips. There was no gritted anger, no exasperation, not even much coldness. Yet anyone who knew the Silver Dragon King would understand—this calmness was more dangerous than her rage.

Because Gu Yue did not easily remember anyone's name.

Yet after tonight, those three words had taken root within her.

The great doors of the Stone Palace slowly closed behind her, shutting the moonlight outside.

Deep in the forest, a languid female voice sounded within a cub's spiritual sea, carrying both amusement and praise.

"Good."

Far away in East Sea City, Lu Menge set down her phone and leaned back in her chair. The hem of her white lab coat slipped aside, revealing her long, fair legs. The stiletto hanging from one foot swayed slightly. She lifted her thermos and took a sip of the dark leaves steeped within it for who knew how many tens of thousands of years, her amber fox eyes narrowing into two satisfied crescents.

"You worked hard delivering that message." She spoke to the empty air, tapping her fingers against the desk. "Come back. Teacher will warm some milk for you."

The air before her rippled faintly. A flash of white light appeared, and the Little White Tiger rolled out of empty space with a thud, landing on the desk and knocking over a stack of ungraded exam papers. The cub shook its head, howled twice at Lu Menge, and wore an openly proud expression.

"I saw it, I saw it—'Cousin's expression just now was way too funny'—"

Lu Menge scooped the cub into her arms. Tilting her head back, she looked out the window. The Star Dou Great Forest lay beyond mountains and rivers, yet to her, it seemed separated by no more than a sheet of paper.

"...It's good that she woke up."

She spoke softly. There was no languidness in her voice, no mockery, none of her usual half-smile. There was only the quietness that an old person who had lived far too long would reveal after confirming that an old friend was safe.

The cub nuzzled against her in her arms and gradually fell asleep.

Lu Menge lowered her head to look at the warm little bundle, and at last, a faint curve appeared by her M-shaped lips.

"Cousin, oh cousin."

She blinked those fox eyes and looked into the depths of empty space.

"A show of force is only the appetizer."

"When you meet your teacher, you'll learn what true social death is."

She sank deeply into her chair, letting the stiletto slide from her toes, and released a satisfied sigh. There was anticipation in that sigh, along with an emotion buried for far, far too long, slowly coming back to life.