Husband and wife

"Ahem! It's Yao as in 'a graceful, lovely maiden,' and Shi as in 'poetry.'"

Seeing that the Cloud Knights' conditions had stabilized, the surrounding civilians began praising Yaoshi's miracle.

"My goodness, that girl looks so young. Who would've thought her medical skills were so incredible?"

"Right? Even the dragon lady needs medicine, but all she has to do is touch them with her hands?"

"Speaking of which... doesn't going barefoot all the time bother her?"

"Hey! My good man, you couldn't be more wrong. If she put on shoes, what would I eat?" Zhang Xiu raised a hand to put a stop to such outrageous blasphemy.

"Exactly, what would you eat... wait, what? Why would anyone want to eat someone else's feet?" The man gave Zhang Xiu a strange look.

While they were chatting, Stelle and the others finally arrived and squeezed into the crowd.

"Zhang Xiu, did something happen here?" Stelle swept her wide eyes over the crowd and immediately spotted Zhang Xiu right ahead of her.

"What... happened to your hair?"

"Oh, nothing much. These people were affected by the Stellaron and were about to succumb to mara, so my wife stepped in and treated them. As for my hair... I wanted a new hairstyle, so I made it this long."

As he spoke, he lifted his hair and let it flutter through the air.

March 7th arrived last and immediately spotted Bailu, whose little face Yaoshi was kneading. "Where did this kid come from?"

"Where's your dad?"

"Mm... I don't have a dad." Bailu wriggled free of Yaoshi's hands and looked up at March 7th.

"Huh?" March 7th suddenly realized how pitiful the girl's background was. "Then what about your mom?"

Bailu simply shook her head. "I don't have a mom either."

That sent guilt surging through March 7th. She scratched her head and looked left and right, unsure what to do.

Seeing her looking so silly, Zhang Xiu couldn't help speaking up. "Hey, see those horns on her head? She's a Vidyadhara. Their cycle of rebirth is self-sustaining. They don't need a mom or dad at all."

"That's right! I started studying medicine the moment I hatched and emerged from the water. I'm a properly registered professional physician at the Alchemy Commission!"

After hearing that, March 7th's guilt subsided. She turned toward Stelle beside her and said quietly:

"Kids in Belobog are still playing in the dirt underground, while the kids here are already treating patients like experts."

With the crisis resolved, the civilians dispersed, leaving only the Alchemy Commission's personnel behind. Members of the Earth-Balance Commission were also soothing their nerves.

Bailu planted both hands on her hips and sighed like a little grown-up. "Things on the Luofu haven't been very peaceful lately. If you don't have anything to do, don't go wandering around. It's dangerous."

"Ah, that's a shame. The Luofu's general gave us a job, so we'll have to run all over the place." March 7th shook her head and sighed along with Bailu.

"Then if you uncles and big sisters suffer any misfor..." Bailu was about to say more when she suddenly remembered that one of them was an even better physician than she was, so she changed tack:

"Make sure you take good care of yourselves, okay? I'll examine these patients first." With that, she walked over to one of the patients.

"There is no need for concern. These Cloud Knights shall awaken shortly." Yaoshi gently stroked Bailu's cheek, her eyes filled with fondness.

"R-really? Your medical skills are amazing, big sister. Did you heal them using the power of the Path of Abundance?"

"Yes. You must take care of yourself as well, Miss Bailu. We shall take our leave." She withdrew her hand and returned to Zhang Xiu's side.

"See you all later. My wife and I are going to have a nice look around~" Zhang Xiu gently took Yaoshi's hand, nodded to the others, and left.

After leaving, the two headed straight for a barbershop. Just as Zhang Xiu was about to enter, Yaoshi tugged him to a stop.

"Huh? What's wrong, honey?" He looked questioningly at the little figure beside him.

"Leave the tending of your hair to me, my husband. Shall we choose some clothes instead?" Yaoshi looked up into Zhang Xiu's eyes.

"Of course I'll listen to you, honey. Let's go~ Aww~ You're so adorable~"

Zhang Xiu felt as though he was about to melt. He immediately scooped Yaoshi up, kissed her cheek, and set her on his shoulder.

Once seated on his shoulder, the first thing Yaoshi did was gently take the upper half of Zhang Xiu's ear between her teeth. Then she began combing through his hair with both hands.

The warm touch and the flick of her tongue sent a shudder through Zhang Xiu's entire body.

"Holy shit, holy shit... honey, you..." His face flushed slightly, and his body went rigid, leaving him unable to move.

Their interaction also drew stares from the passersby.

"What are you looking at? Don't you have wives?" Zhang Xiu raised his right hand to shield Yaoshi's face.

By the time he strolled up to a clothing store, Yaoshi had finished arranging his hair with a sprig she had casually created.

Not only that, she had placed a black Laurel Wreath atop Zhang Xiu's head.

"My husband's handsome features deserve such styling." Yaoshi released Zhang Xiu's ear and brushed away the glistening saliva on it with her hand.

"...Phew. Then, shall we go in?"

Meanwhile, Stelle and the others had been invited to the Earth-Balance Commission's offices, where a woman told them about the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.

"Abundance worshippers dedicated to uncovering forbidden elixir formulas and reviving the so-called secrets of immortality. To think an organization that perished so long ago has now risen from the ashes."

Her words left Stelle and March 7th breaking out in cold sweats, uncomfortable from head to toe.

"Hmph. Perhaps those Skydeep have something to do with it. Openly worshipping The Plagues Author aboard the Xianzhou is no different from slandering the Heaven-Mending Divinity in front of followers of Preservation."

"Rest assured, if we find any leads, we'll contact you immediately."

After their conversation, the three left the offices. March 7th grumbled, "The Xianzhou is so huge. Where are we supposed to start looking for clues?"

"Exactly, and we still have to go to the Divination Commission. It's going to be a bit of a hassle..."

"Just think of it as a side quest. Besides, the Divination Commission hasn't contacted us yet. We can do it along the way."

"Then take your time looking. I'm going to use this chance to explore a little more." March 7th pursed her lips, then took out her camera and began wandering around.

"We'll regroup later, then. Stelle, stay safe. Contact us immediately if anything seems wrong." Welt nodded to Stelle before leaving as well.

Seeing that the other two had left, Stelle took out her phone to try contacting Zhang Xiu and Yaoshi, but neither replied for a long time.

Looking at the glowing screen, she put her phone away and began surveying the Exalting Sanctum instead.

And as she looked around, Stelle actually spotted a furtive green figure.