Chapter 152: Xiao Jihan’s Dream (Part Three)

Yan Shu lay on the bed, facing the wall, unable to fall asleep. She felt that everything was strange—ever since she arrived in this world, everything seemed off.

Especially this Heavenly Dao... It was like an intelligent sensor. If she strayed too far from the male lead, she would get struck by lightning; if she were in a different plane, she would get struck; if the male lead encountered danger, she would get struck too. Most importantly, this Heavenly Dao was entirely unreasonable. If she cursed the male lead in her mind, a heavenly thunderbolt would immediately follow; if she suspected that the male lead liked her, the thunder came even faster. It didn't even bother pretending to summon thunderclouds anymore; it had reached a level of blatant, shameless audacity!

Then there was that time Xiao Jihan was undergoing his Divine Transformation Tribulation. The first eight bolts were life-threatening, but as soon as his senior brothers arrived, the ninth bolt—which should have been the most ferocious—was like a joke, flashing once before vanishing. She had even remarked that the Heavenly Dao was forcing them into a romantic pairing! Truly! This Heavenly Dao felt as though someone were manipulating it, even answering her questions like a GPS guiding her way. It was just too damn intelligent!

And that "one-day-tour" system called Xiao Jiu was equally unreliable! Did the annotations inside Xiao Jihan's favorability display really mean nothing?! To speak shamelessly, she had already suspected many times that Xiao Jihan liked her! But the problem was, if Xiao Jihan liked her, what was the deal with the original novel? What was the deal with the system? And what was the deal with the Heavenly Dao? Was she the one overthinking, or had this world simply gone insane?

Yan Shu’s head ached from the thinking. She turned over irritably, finding herself face-to-face with Xiao Jihan’s cold, sleeping visage. Even after consuming the Illusion Transformation Pill, which reduced his original ten-part appearance to five, his face remained handsome and dashing. In particular, his aura was cool yet not entirely unapproachable. Instead, it carried a comfortable, refreshing, and clean quality that made one feel at peace just looking at him.

She let out a low sigh, secretly mocking herself for being ridiculous. Why think so much? Even if she did, could she draw a line with him now? Would thinking about it solve anything? The answer was clearly no. Furthermore, from beginning to end, he had never done anything wrong. On the contrary, it was always she who sought things from him, and he had not only forgiven the past pains and mistakes but was even willing to share the Art of the Medicine King with her third senior brother for her sake. If one considered the heart-gouging pain of that year, his actions were no longer merely selfless—they were noble.

At the very least, she could not do the same. So, why overthink? It was unsolvable anyway.

Yan Shu contentedly cast aside all her doubts and peacefully closed her eyes. She was very happy now, wasn't she? Not long after, Yan Shu drifted into dreamland. Xiao Jihan, who had been keeping his eyes closed, slowly opened them. Looking at her serene sleeping face and listening to her steady breathing, his sword-like brows furrowed slightly. He could tell she had things on her mind and possessed secrets he didn't know about. The so-called method of drawing thunder into the body felt increasingly strange to him; he had never seen a heavenly thunderbolt descend without even the presence of thunderclouds.

Yet, he could find no reasonable explanation.

So be it. Secrets or no secrets, what did it matter? He did not ask for much. As long as she was by his side, as long as she belonged to him, that was enough. Xiao Jihan reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, then slowly closed his eyes and drifted into a deep sleep.

It was rare for Xiao Jihan to have a dream.

In the dream, he was a Divine Lord of the Upper Realm. He had lived for hundreds of thousands of years with a heart as still as stagnant water, responsible only for handling the complex affairs of the Upper Realm. His days were monotonous and repetitive. Although his heart was calm, he would occasionally find life rather dull when he was idle.

Until one day, he divined that his "love tribulation" was approaching, and it lay within the Phoenix Clan. He was not one to sit and wait for his fate, so on the very day he divined it, he transformed into a human cultivator, feigning that he had just ascended to the Upper Realm and lost his way, collapsing at the gates of the Phoenix Clan.

The phoenixes were still the phoenixes he remembered: kind-hearted and intelligent, but incredibly lazy. Regardless of gender or age, they were too lazy to go out, too lazy to cultivate, and even too lazy to think. They lived happily every day, and their favorite thing to do was stay on Phoenix Mountain, lying in their rooms looking at the Parasol Spirit Trees, occasionally conjuring spirit mirrors to admire their own beauty. In this world, apart from their mates, the only things they cared about were their appearances.

Phoenixes were divine beasts, and like the Dragon Clan he belonged to, they had difficulty reproducing. By nature, dragons were libidinous; although he was an outlier with a heart of ice, the other dragons worked hard, and despite the difficulty in reproduction, their numbers remained robust. But the phoenixes were different.

A phoenix loved only one person in their lifetime and sought only one mate. If the mate passed away, the phoenix would weep blood and wail, drawing all birds to mourn, before dying alongside their companion. Fortunately, phoenixes were very lazy and disliked traveling unless absolutely necessary, so they mostly married within their own kind, which was considered harmonious. This was the reason why, when he divined that his love tribulation lay within the Phoenix Clan, he felt no resistance and instead took the initiative to seek them out.

That day, he collapsed at the gates of Phoenix Mountain, feigning unconsciousness. He waited for a long time, but not a single phoenix passed by to help. He had no choice but to expand his spiritual sense and quietly investigate the surroundings to see if he had fallen in the wrong spot or if there were simply no phoenixes nearby.

However, he heard the following conversation:

"I smell the scent of a human at our mountain gates. It carries the stench of blood; he seems to be half-dead."

"I smell it too. No need to worry too much. He isn't dead yet. Maybe he'll get better if he just lies there. I'm too lazy to move. Let's wait a bit longer. If he can't recover on his own or is about to die, we'll go save him then."

"That makes perfect sense. Let's lie down for a while longer."

He: ...

He gained a clearer understanding of the phoenixes' laziness. Forced by necessity, he made himself appear even weaker, his breath barely hanging by a thread. The next moment, he saw someone. Or rather, a phoenix who had taken human form.

Naturally, he settled into Phoenix Mountain. The one who saved him was the Phoenix Clan Leader, Feng Qi. Phoenixes were kind and intelligent but very lazy; they disliked using their brains, so they appeared foolish, believing whatever others told them. Feng Qi quickly believed the identity he had fabricated and even told him to rest easy at Phoenix Mountain, and once he recovered, he could go out and find his own cave dwelling.

He settled in with peace of mind. It wasn't that he was deceiving them; it was truly because the phoenixes were too lazy to think. Once he took the person destined for him, the phoenixes—once their clever minds eventually turned—would immediately understand the cause. They were being deceived and would naturally be angry, but their anger wouldn't last long, because they were too lazy to stay angry for very long. Unless, of course, their bottom line was crossed.

He had only divined that his love tribulation was within the Phoenix Clan, but the problem was that the phoenixes were so lazy they didn't even bother to take human form. They all remained in their original forms. Everywhere he looked, he saw only birds. Let alone gender, he couldn't even distinguish the old from the young.

Except for one little phoenix.