He Lan Tianxia

Murong Junlan's illness worsened, leaving everyone in the palace at a loss. The imperial physicians took turns caring for him day and night, daring not to sleep or rest. Murong Junlan had only woken up once, and during that time, he was only thinking about that woman. Therefore, after careful consideration, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor allowed the woman to stay by Murong Junlan's side, hoping that she could wake him up again.

That noon, someone came to report that a young master named Lingyi was requesting an audience. The woman and Jiang He were overjoyed and ran out to greet him. Lingyi saw Murong Junlan and, after a moment's thought, secretly met with Jiang He and the woman. He revealed to Jiang He that he was a snake, explaining that he was worried he wouldn't be able to return to the Spirit Snake Cave after saving Murong Junlan, and he hoped Jiang He would secretly escort him back himself. Jiang He, having felt Lingyi was no ordinary person since his last visit with the woman, readily agreed, expressing only respect and gratitude.

To maintain secrecy and avoid disturbing the treatment, Jiang He chose Yan Yuan as instructed by Ling Yi. Therefore, Jiang He deployed layers upon layers of imperial guards to protect the area, and neither the Empress Dowager nor the Emperor were allowed to enter during the treatment.

This treatment took longer than the last. Besides the prolonged illness, the Wubei Kingdom had deliberately set a trap; the poison on the arrow was specially made and extremely potent. It was a miracle that Murong Junlan could save him and escape after being shot. Faced with such a resilient prince, and knowing she had such a master, Lingyi decided to go all out.

Six days and six nights felt incredibly long. Jiang He stayed by her side the whole time, barely closing his eyes. The woman was the same; although she didn't intend to stay and marry Murong Junlan, she hoped he could safely weather this ordeal. The Emperor and Empress Dowager dared not come, fearing to disturb Lingyi, and quietly strengthened their defenses, anxiously awaiting news from the palace.

At dawn on the seventh day, after the rooster crowed for the first time, Lingyi pressed the bell she had arranged with Jiang He, then everything went black and she fainted. Jiang He immediately followed Lingyi's instructions and, together with the woman, secretly handled everything. Then they took Murong Junlan to the main bedroom of Yanyuan. Lingyi had originally requested that he be sent back to the cave immediately after the treatment, but now it seemed she would have to stay there for some time to recover.

Murong Junlan awoke on the tenth day, but for the sake of his and Lingyi's recovery, Jiang He publicly declared that the prince was still unconscious. Jiang He and the woman personally cared for Murong Junlan and Lingyi. Five more days passed, and Murong Junlan slowly improved and was able to get out of bed, but Lingyi showed little improvement. That day, a hawk suddenly flew in, tossed Lingyi a few pills, and then flew away. Jiang He wanted to throw the pills away, but Lingyi quickly stopped him and swallowed them. Surprisingly, her complexion improved somewhat.

For several days in a row, the hawk kept dropping in a few pills. It even dropped some for Murong Junlan, but clearly more for Ling Yi than for Murong Junlan; for every ten pills dropped for Ling Yi, Murong Junlan might only get one or two. Murong Junlan didn't mind; he'd take whatever the hawk threw in. But the woman was bothered. One day, when the hawk came to drop pills again, she shouted at it, "Potato, you're so biased! You should divide the pills between them equally! Why does Ling Yi get more pills than the Prince?"

The eagle felt truly aggrieved. How could this be divided equally? What was Lingyi? What was a prince? Their body sizes were different, yet it couldn't communicate with them. Lingyi chuckled inwardly for the eagle.

“Yan’er, don’t be rude.” Murong Junlan continued, “My health has improved a lot, so I naturally don’t need too many pills.”

"Potato, you're so stingy, only throwing in a few at a time," the woman complained.

Upon hearing this, the eagle screeched angrily twice, circled a few times in mid-air, and muttered indignantly to itself, "Do you think those spiritual herbs for making pills are easy to find? If I hadn't seen those two men looking half-dead, I wouldn't have bothered with them."

“It’s already quite impressive that the eagle can refine so many pills every day. Maybe it’s even reluctant to eat them itself.” Lingyi knew that the eagle had been upset, so he immediately came to its rescue.

"At least you have a conscience." The eagle gave Lingyi a grateful glare and said, "Remember, our feud isn't over."

Ling Yi chuckled and ignored it. Turning to Murong Junlan, he said, "Your Highness, could you perhaps prepare some spiritual herbs for the eagle so it can refine elixirs here?"

Murong Junlan immediately agreed, and the next day, a lot of spiritual herbs were delivered to Yan Garden, but the eagle did not come.

The woman waited and waited by the windowsill, but the eagle didn't appear. Worried, she asked Lingyi if something had happened to the eagle. Lingyi told her the eagle was fine; it was just angry with her. Sure enough, on the third day, the eagle returned. It perched silently on the wall, its red eyes gleaming, but wouldn't come inside. The woman went over to look at the eagle, then pretended not to understand and went back inside. After a while, she went back over, stared at the eagle with ill intent for a long time, and suddenly blurted out, "Are you a man or a woman?"

"Hmm?" The eagle was speechless at this tricky question.

"Let me put it this way, are you male or female?" The woman thought the eagle wouldn't understand.

The eagle was speechless, unable to understand what the woman was up to.

"Hey, give me an answer, so I can prepare myself," the woman said seriously. "How about this, since I can't understand what you're saying anyway, I'll ask you, and if it's yes, you nod; if it's no, you shake your head, okay?"

"Hmph, I'm still angry." The eagle turned its head away, refusing to look at the woman.

"Hey, I haven't even started asking yet, why are you already giving your opinion?" the woman reminded her. Murong Junlan and Ling Yi, who were standing to the side, couldn't help but chuckle.

"We're starting now. Are you the male?" the woman asked earnestly.

The eagle maintained its previous posture, ignoring the woman, thinking: Do you think I'm a fool? I'm not going to pay any attention to you.

"My second question is, are you a woman or a mother?" the woman asked earnestly.

What kind of ridiculous questions are these? The eagle stomped its feet in anger.

"The answer is out. It turns out that the eagle is a half-male, half-female animal. Oh, no, I should say that the eagle is neither male nor female." After the woman finished speaking, Murong Junlan and Ling Yi could no longer help but burst into laughter.

The eagle, enraged, screeched at the woman a couple of times, then flapped its wings and flew away in a huff.

"Hey, Potato, I was just kidding!" the woman shouted at the soaring eagle. Seeing the eagle fly away, she pouted and said, "You stingy little thing." After the eagle flew away, the woman turned around and went into the house to brew medicine for Murong Junlan and Lingyi.

Ten days later, Ling Yi decided to return to the Spirit Serpent Cave, knowing he needed to cultivate in seclusion. In the past twenty-odd days, he had only been able to transform into human form three or four times, and each time the transformation was shorter than the last. He knew that if he didn't intensify his cultivation, he might never have the chance to transform into human form again. Murong Junlan didn't insist he stay; he couldn't help him. The only thing he could do was give Ling Yi the antidote and rare medicinal herbs from the palace, a great favor for which he wouldn't express his gratitude. Considering Murong Junlan's incomplete recovery, Ling Yi was escorted by Jiang He and the Imperial Guards.

"Brother Lingyi, until we meet again." Murong Junlan escorted Lingyi to the main gate of Yanyuan.

"Until we meet again?" Ling Yi thought to himself that he hoped Gu Ran would be alright, but he hoped she wouldn't be poisoned again when they met next time, because he really wouldn't be able to help her then. Looking at Murong Junlan's expectant eyes, he immediately nodded and said, "Okay, Your Highness, take care."

Suddenly, a hawk swooped down and landed on the saddle. It tossed a small bag to Murong Junlan and Ling Yi respectively, then said arrogantly, "Take these pills since you saved the prince. However, if you waste the previous Transformation Pill, I'll make you pay."

Ling Yi nodded gratefully to the eagle: "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed this time."

"You dare?" Cangying was furious. The two of them had fought fiercely over the Transformation Pill, with no clear winner. In the end, Lingyi used a little trick to take it away. From then on, Lingyi could transform into a human, while Cangying could only understand human language but could not communicate. Because of this, Cangying and Lingyi went from being brothers to enemies.

Murong Junlan tossed the bag of medicine in his hand to Ling Yi, saying, "You need this more than I do."

"Your Highness, please keep it." Lingyi tried to push it back.

"Men, stop being so indecisive, or you'll be looked down upon by eagles."

"What does this have to do with me?" Eagle complained to the prince.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Lingyi immediately bid farewell to everyone, boarded Jiang He's carriage, and set off back to Broken Heart Cliff.