Ninth Princess Li Ling'er

"The king is here."

"We pay our respects to Your Majesty."

As they entered the ninth princess's palace, a group of maids hurriedly dropped to their knees.

"Ling'er pays her respects to Father."

A clear, sweet voice rang out, and a slender little girl slowly emerged from the room and came before Li Zheng to bow.

So this was the girl with the variant spiritual root?

Xu Changshou took a careful look at her. She appeared eight or nine, with rosy lips, pearly teeth, and an air full of vitality.

She had a delicate bearing, and the weariness and faint sorrow on her little face made it impossible not to feel tender concern for her.

Xu Changshou could not help wondering whether a child this young could already have things that made her unhappy.

Just as Li Ling'er was about to kneel, Li Zheng caught her. "Get up, Ling'er... Here, let me introduce the guard Father found for you."

Li Zheng pointed at Xu Changshou and, after considering his words, said, "His name is Xu Changshou. From now on, you can call him Big Brother."

Since it was inconvenient to reveal that Xu Changshou belonged to an immortal sect, calling him Senior Brother would be inappropriate. Although Li Ling'er was Li Zheng's daughter, she would certainly become a disciple of the Green Immortal Sect once she entered it.

At that point, Li Ling'er would become Xu Changshou's junior sister, placing her in the same generation as Li Xiaoxian.

Setting aside their family ties, his daughter would rank above him in the immortal sect's generational hierarchy.

Of course, he was not a member of an immortal sect, so whether he observed generational seniority with Xu Changshou did not matter. But his daughter's standing relative to Xu Changshou could not be muddled.

If she could not call him Senior Brother, she would call him Big Brother instead.

Xu Changshou nodded in agreement and smiled. "Ling'er, you can call me Big Brother Xu or Big Brother Changshou."

Li Ling'er blinked. "Can I call you Brother Changshou?"

"Of course!"

Xu Changshou smiled. "From now on, I'll be responsible for keeping you safe."

"Thank you, Brother Changshou."

"Go prepare a room."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Li Zheng instructed the servants to prepare a room for Xu Changshou and arranged for him to stay in the princess's palace.

The room assigned to Xu Changshou was in the east wing beside Li Ling'er's main bedroom.

He could reach Li Ling'er's door as soon as he stepped outside, making it very convenient to protect her.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Changshou had spent two days in the princess's palace.

He had thought being a princess would be terribly exciting.

Never had he imagined that Li Ling'er's life would be so arduous.

Every day, she had to rise at the rooster's dawn call for morning lessons, studying books and learning to read.

Morning lessons lasted two hours. Once those were finished, she still had to study the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Two hours of zither practice.

Two hours of chess lessons.

Two hours of calligraphy practice.

Two hours of painting.

Her lessons totaled twelve hours, with almost no time to rest apart from meals and visits to the toilet.

By the time she finished all her lessons, it was nearly midnight.

While Li Ling'er did her lessons, Xu Changshou stayed beside her, meditating as she worked.

Late one night, after finishing her painting, Li Ling'er slumped over the desk and fell asleep from exhaustion.

Watching from beside her, Xu Changshou felt his heart ache. He had never imagined that being a royal child would be so grueling. It was worse than his old life herding cattle for Wang Yuanwai.

At least, apart from working and tending the cattle, his mind had been free.

Xu Changshou walked over, picked Li Ling'er up, and carried her to her bedchamber.

"Mother, I'm so tired. Please, can you let me rest for one day?"

"Mother, please!"

In her sleep, Li Ling'er clutched Xu Changshou's arm and murmured pitifully.

Xu Changshou patted her little hand, soothing her back to sleep, then returned to his room to meditate and cultivate.

The next day.

Xu Changshou did not open his eyes until the sound of a zither drifted in through the window.

He knew Li Ling'er had already finished her morning lessons and was now playing the zither.

Just then, a maid brought breakfast. Xu Changshou washed up and began eating.

After breakfast, he pushed the door open and went outside, only to see Li Ling'er sitting cross-legged in the sitting room, quietly playing the zither.

Her little face was somewhat pale, her brows tightly knitted, and deep fatigue lingered between them.

"Ow!"

Suddenly, Li Ling'er accidentally caught a fingernail and snapped it, sending crimson blood seeping from beneath the nail.

Li Ling'er wept from the pain. A maid gave her a simple bandage, and she continued playing.

As she played, Li Ling'er's tears began falling again despite her efforts to hold them back.

"Enough!"

Xu Changshou could not bear watching any longer. Before long, Li Ling'er would enter the Green Immortal Sect. There was no need for her to study the zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting.

There was no need for her to suffer like this.

Li Ling'er paused and asked, "Brother Changshou, what's wrong?"

Xu Changshou asked, "Ling'er, do you like playing the zither?"

"No!"

Li Ling'er shook her head.

Xu Changshou said, "From now on, you don't have to play the zither. You don't have to do any of those lessons in zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting."

"Really? That's wonderful!"

Li Ling'er was overjoyed, but then she grew dejected again. "I can't. Mother assigned these lessons. If I don't do them, she'll definitely punish me."

Xu Changshou declared firmly, "I'm your guard. If I say you don't have to do them, then you don't. If your mother wants to blame someone, she can come straight to me."

"You're so kind, Brother Changshou. Thank you! I'm going to play."

Smiling, Li Ling'er ran out of the sitting room and into the garden to catch butterflies.

"Brother Changshou, come quickly! There are so many butterflies! Come catch them with me!"

"All right, I'll help you!"

Xu Changshou ran over and caught butterflies with Li Ling'er.

At present, his cultivation had reached the bottleneck at the ninth level of Qi Refining. Once he broke through it, he would reach the tenth level of Qi Refining.

His original plan had been to take a Barrier-Breaking Pill and continue cultivating, breaking through to the tenth level of Qi Refining in one push.

But Ye Shanhua had told him the whereabouts of the Black Antelope Thunder Ox, and then Li Dao Path had suddenly assigned him a mission, disrupting his cultivation plans.

Xu Changshou had made preparations before coming, buying two Barrier-Breaking Pills.

But he had never had a chance to use them. His current task was to protect Li Ling'er, so naturally, he did not dare take a Barrier-Breaking Pill to attempt a breakthrough.

Entering seclusion to break through a realm could take several months at the longest and ten-odd days at the shortest. He could not spare that time now.

Over the past few days, Xu Changshou had occasionally secluded himself to meditate, but there had not been the slightest sign of a breakthrough.

Since he could not break through, he might as well stop cultivating and do something else to take his mind off it. Perhaps he would find an opportunity to break through that way.

And so, Xu Changshou decided to spend a few days here simply playing with Li Ling'er.

He caught butterflies with her, taught her cricket fighting, flew kites, spun tops, and took her fishing at the pond.

He taught Li Ling'er all the games he had played with the village children while herding cattle.

Li Ling'er had spent her life deep within the palace. How could she ever have played such games? Every day, she played with boundless delight.

After a few days, the sorrow and fatigue between her brows had vanished, and she became a lively little sprite in the mortal world.

One day, while Li Ling'er was tossing paper airplanes in the courtyard, the queen entered the princess's palace with a stern face.

"Ling'er, I hear you've spent these past few days playing all day and neglecting your studies. Who gave you the nerve?"

"Ah, Mother!"

Startled, Li Ling'er hurriedly hid behind Xu Changshou.

The queen turned her piercing gaze on Xu Changshou and said sternly, "So you're the one who led my Ling'er astray."

Xu Changshou frowned. "I only played with her. I haven't led her astray."

"Who do you think you are? What right do you have to interfere in our family affairs?"

"I'm Ling'er's guard. I'm the one who told her not to study the zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting. If you object, you can take it up with His Majesty."

Xu Changshou spoke calmly, releasing a powerful pressure as he did so.

How could a mortal withstand the pressure of an immortal cultivator?

The queen turned deathly pale with fright and ran away in tears:

"Just you wait! I'll have His Majesty settle this right now."