Don't Know Which Chapter It Is

Star Dou Great Forest, core region. The waters of the Lake of Life were calmer than when Gu Yue had last left. A faint silver gleam rippled across the surface, the residual source power left behind during the Silver Dragon King's tens of thousands of years of slumber, still nourishing the water and soil in the forest's deepest reaches. Several thousand-year soul beasts were drinking by the lake. When they looked up and saw the two approaching, they first grew wary by instinct. Then, sensing the aura on Gu Yue that was familiar to their very bones, they lowered their heads and retreated to either side, opening a path toward the core region.

Gu Yue walked ahead, her steps a little slower than usual. Her black hair fell over her shoulders, and its tips occasionally flashed with an extremely faint silver beneath the scattered light filtering through the canopy—the instinctive resonance of the Silver Dragon King bloodline as she neared the Lake of Life. Tang Wulin walked beside her, carrying a cloth bundle carefully wrapped in Blue Silver Grass. Inside was the gift he had brought for Di Tian. He said nothing, but he walked exactly alongside her, neither too close nor too far away—the distance she had grown most accustomed to during practical combat classes.

"The Lake of Life is up ahead. Di Tian usually meditates beneath the ancient tree by the lake. The last time I came, he left a stone for me beneath that tree—it was where the Dragon God once sat." Gu Yue suddenly spoke, her voice especially crisp in the forest's silence.

Tang Wulin turned to look at her and answered softly, lifting the bundle a little higher. The Golden Dragon King rolled over in his sea of consciousness, lightly tapping the sealing platform with his tail, his tone carrying a rare hint of sentiment. Tang Wulin replied, "We're already at the doorstep." He had lived with this old dragon in his mind for years now and had long grown used to referring to them as "we."

The two passed through the last stretch of dense forest, and the full expanse of the Lake of Life opened before them. Its water was clear as a mirror, reflecting the branches and leaves of the towering ancient trees around it, as well as the sky overhead, fragmented by the canopy. Two people sat beneath an ancient tree by the lake. One was Di Tian—golden-eyed and black-haired, with a stern face, seated cross-legged atop the tree's thick roots. He was not wearing his usual cloak today, but a dark robe with dark-gold dragon patterns embroidered on the cuffs. The other sat across from him with her legs crossed, holding the thermos cup she always had. Her silver hair glowed softly beneath the tree's shadow as she lowered her head and said something to Di Tian in a tone that sounded like casual small talk.

Tang Wulin froze. "Sister Lu? How did you get here before us?" Gu Yue's steps paused as well, but she was far calmer than Tang Wulin—clearly, she had long grown used to Lu Menge's "teleportation-style visits."

Lu Menge turned and waved her thermos at them, smiling brightly. "Oh, you're back? I got here a cup of tea ahead of you—surely you know how fast the Nine-Headed White Tiger is. Sit down. Di Tian just brewed some tea, and it's still hot." She pointed at the tea tray resting atop the ancient tree roots. A purple clay teapot and several rough pottery cups sat on it. Di Tian picked up the teapot, his movements surprisingly practiced, refilled Lu Menge's cup, then turned over two new cups and filled them as well.

Gu Yue walked before Di Tian and lowered her head slightly. "Di Tian, I'm back." Di Tian set down the teapot and rose to his feet. Dropping to one knee, he bowed his head, his movements exactly as they had been tens of thousands of years ago. "My Lord. The disturbance in the Lake of Life has subsided—it was a brief resonance caused by the Dragon God's lingering aura at the lakebed during the periodic Leyline Tides. This subordinate has confirmed it. There is no need for concern."

Gu Yue reached out and took his arm, helping him up. "Get up. I've told you many times, there's no need to kneel." Di Tian rose with her support, a faint smile flashing through his golden eyes. "If My Lord says not to kneel, then this subordinate will not kneel. But when My Lord returns next time, this subordinate will still kneel—this is this subordinate's respect for My Lord, and has nothing to do with whether My Lord permits it."

Tang Wulin stepped forward and offered the bundle with both hands. "Senior Di Tian, this is a gift for you. I forged a pair of tea knives myself. Gu Yue said you enjoy tea, so I tempered the edge of this one with an alloy mixed with Golden Dragon King blood essence during forging. It should cut tea cakes faster than an ordinary blade. The other is a White Tiger bone blade blank that Sister Lu asked me to bring. She said you had asked her for it before." Di Tian accepted the bundle and opened it. Inside lay two delicate tea knives. One glimmered with a faint golden light, while the other was pure white and warm like jade. He stared at the two tea knives for a long time before raising his head to meet Tang Wulin's eyes directly. The scrutiny in his golden gaze gradually turned into a faint acknowledgment.

"Tempered with Golden Dragon King blood essence—every piece of tea cake cut by this knife will bear the aura of the dragon clan. This is the most unusual gift this old man has received in his life. As for the other bone knife, its blank needs to be nurtured with natal true fire for a hundred days. Sister Nine, how many years has it been since you were willing to pluck a feather? Yet this time, you actually made an exception for Di."

Lu Menge raised her teacup without answering directly, then lightly tapped her thermos against Di Tian's cup. Gu Yue sat on another ancient root and took a sip of the tea Di Tian had poured for her. Casually, she asked, "What were you talking about just now? You seemed so happy."

Lu Menge choked on her tea and slapped her thigh. "Right! Didn't I tell you? I said that when that little Golden Dragon King came to see you, he might dye his hair yellow, ride a souped-up bike, and roar into the Star Dou Great Forest with a vroom, vroom, vroom."

Di Tian turned to Gu Yue. His expression remained stern and serious, but his brows furrowed slightly, clearly genuinely confused. "My Lord, isn't yellow hair a form of etiquette in human society? This subordinate saw it in the comments under those videos—dyeing one's hair yellow and riding a souped-up bike seem to be the highest standard for young humans meeting an elder. There was also something about, 'When the bike revs, your parents raised you for nothing.' This subordinate even specifically looked up what a souped-up bike was. Sister Nine clearly said—"

Gu Yue set down her teacup and calmly cut him off. "Di Tian. Watch fewer of those ridiculous videos." Tang Wulin stood nearby, his ability to keep a straight face undergoing an immense test. The Golden Dragon King was already rolling around with laughter in his sea of consciousness, his tail wildly slapping the sealing platform. Tang Wulin opened his mouth as if to say something, then wisely chose silence and turned his face toward Lu Menge.

Lu Menge stood and walked over to pat Di Tian on the shoulder, speaking earnestly. "Di Tian, watch fewer short videos in the future. Those comment sections aren't etiquette guides—yellow hair is a negative example, and souped-up bikes are a joke, not a standard for meeting the parents. And even if humans really did have that kind of custom, Gu Yue wouldn't let Wulin dye his hair yellow—she cares about appearances. Right, Gu Yue?" Gu Yue did not answer. She merely raised her teacup and took another sip. But Tang Wulin noticed that when she turned her head, the tips of her ears had reddened slightly, and her lips pressed together almost imperceptibly—the habit she had when holding back a laugh.

Di Tian stood where he was, brushing a fallen leaf from the cuff of his tea robe. Then his golden eyes swept from Lu Menge to Tang Wulin, as though recalibrating his understanding of human etiquette. "This subordinate does not understand. Last time, My Lord returned and said that Teacher Lu always pretended to be pitiful in front of Teacher Wu, and that Teacher Wu thought Teacher Lu was the young wife of a wealthy human merchant. This subordinate thought that was the etiquette of human society—dye yellow hair when meeting elders, say you were abused when injured, and live separately even when you like each other. Human rules are harder to decipher than the dragon clan's sealing formations."

Gu Yue set down her teacup, her voice still even. "Di Tian, you've lived for more than eight hundred thousand years. You'll never learn human rules. In the future, don't believe everything Sister Lu tells you—last time, she even told me that Dragon God bloodlines needed to have two children to be safe." Di Tian's golden eyes widened slightly as he turned toward Lu Menge. Lu Menge lifted her thermos to hide her face and stared intently through the gaps in the canopy, pretending to study the movement of the clouds.

Di Tian remained silent for a long time, long enough for several more leaves to drift down from the ancient tree. He lifted the tea that had already gone cold and drank it in one swallow. Then he said softly, "This subordinate should continue studying the Leyline Tides."

Tang Wulin finally failed to hold back a laugh. Gu Yue stood and walked to Di Tian's side, poured out the cold tea before him, and refilled his cup with hot tea. "You don't need to understand human rules. The Star Dou Great Forest is a place you've guarded for hundreds of thousands of years—you understand its rules better than anyone. That's enough." Di Tian accepted the hot tea and lowered his head to look at the amber liquid in the cup. He had guarded this forest for hundreds of thousands of years. He had guarded it through the long darkness after the Dragon God's fall, through the tens of thousands of lonely years of the Silver Dragon King's slumber, through countless invasions by human soul masters and natural disasters. Now, in the forest he guarded, there was the human boy the Silver Dragon King had brought back, Sister Nine sitting with her legs crossed and drinking tea, and four people gathered around a stone table beneath an ancient tree. He suddenly felt that perhaps he did not need to understand every rule of the human world. Some things did not need to be taught by comment sections—seeing the golden glow on the tea knife and the White Tiger true fire within the bone blade was enough.