I long to return home!

It's getting dark.

The once bustling streets are now deserted, with only a few hundred people around, and lights are on in every household.

Huai Zhen walked slowly along the road leading to the palace, occasionally glancing back at Shen Lingjiao who was clinging to his back.

To outsiders, their actions suggested a rather unusual relationship.

Perhaps feeling a bit bored, Huai Zhen gazed at the outline of the imperial city in the distance, pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but think of what Shen Lingjiao had said when she first entered the palace.

After thinking for a long time, he asked Shen Lingjiao on his back, "Lingjiao, why are you so hostile towards the Star Watching Academy? The Dean is usually very kind to us and others."

Hearing this, Shen Lingjiao, who was fiddling with her hands behind her back, seemed somewhat displeased. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She simply cursed directly:

"That old codger, he's over a hundred years old, why isn't he dead yet? It's all that old codger's fault, even my father won't let me leave the city."

"Why?" Huai Zhen frowned slightly, puzzled as to what Gu Changgeng had done.

"This princess doesn't remember very clearly either. I heard from others that the old man became the national advisor twenty years ago, and according to custom, he was required to perform a divination for the Yin Yue Empire."

"At that time, I was not yet born. That old geezer was messing around with his fortune-telling methods. Somehow, he predicted that I would suffer a calamity and die a very tragic death. He said that I was not allowed to leave the city after I was born."

At this point, Shen Lingjiao's cursing grew louder: "That old geezer, he clearly doesn't know anything but insists on learning fortune telling. Every fortune teller who is more experienced than him says that I, the princess, am destined for wealth and a glorious future."

Hearing Shen Lingjiao's words, Huai Zhen's face became more solemn than ever before, and he has not uttered a single word until now.

The Dean, with his profound understanding of the heavens, even with the suppression of the Heavenly Dao, could only calculate a person's fate with slight differences at the Nascent Soul stage, and could never determine a person's life or death. This matter is of great importance, and I need to ask the Dean for clarification as soon as possible. I will absolutely not allow this to happen.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Shen Lingjiao called out to Huaizhen, who was silent. After he came to his senses, she said, "Sickly boy, I advise you to stay away from that old codger. That old codger is definitely not what you see now."

Upon hearing this, Huai Zhen looked shocked again. Could there be something he didn't know?

Shen Lingjiao said, "That old codger is extremely cunning. He usually seems kind and gentle, but sometimes he acts completely out of character." She paused, gathered her emotions, and then continued, "He kills without blinking an eye. Around the time of my tenth birthday, I heard from people in the palace that that old codger went out to kill someone. He expressionlessly slaughtered a small sect of a hundred people. The disciples' corpses were sometimes covered by snowflakes, sometimes burned by flames, and even their bones were burned away."

Hearing such a contrast, Gu Changgeng Huaizhen smiled awkwardly. He really didn't know about this matter. Although he didn't know who was killed, a Nascent Soul cultivator could kill without batting an eye.

Just as Shen Lingjiao was about to reveal all the bad things she knew about Gu Changgeng, the jade pendant from the Jianxing Academy on Huaizhen's waist lit up and floated into the air. To the astonishment of the two, Gu Changgeng's voice came from within it.

“I’m telling you, kid, you’re talking badly about me behind my back. I heard it all at home.”

Meanwhile, in the snow-covered cave of the Star Watching Institute on the other side.

Gu Changgeng was playing chess alone, with a jade token floating in front of him, but it was very different from the others. This was a token unique to Si Tianming, decorated with stars.

Furthermore, what he said was true; even though they were thousands of miles apart, Gu Changgeng could indeed hear their conversation.

In the vast capital city, there are magical treasures of cultivators protecting all the people, all containing arrays and talismans drawn by Gu Changgeng. He can find out anything, big or small, that happens in the city if he wants to.

He hadn't intended to investigate, but the shouting was so loud that his disciples reported it to him, and that's how he learned of the matter.

After being discovered, Shen Lingjiao no longer restrained herself, pointing at the floating jade tablet and the cultivators hiding around her, shouting and cursing, her words were extremely offensive.

Huai Zhen could only laugh awkwardly and let her pass. Later, perhaps because she was tired of shouting, or perhaps because he coaxed her, Shen Lingjiao's voice gradually lowered.

Before long, Huai Zhen felt an intimate contact between his back and Shen Lingjiao silently lying on his back.

Huai Zhen's lips curled slightly upwards, his gaze finally settling on the jade tablet before him. He cleared his throat a few times and said, "Dean..."

"Yes, I know you have many questions, but now is not the time. There is a commission that you need to do in the academy. If you succeed, you will become a second-level star supervisor. I will also inform you when you return."

"One month from now, the Jiang family patriarch will need the bones of a sixth-order magical beast to forge a magic weapon. At that time, he will need a disciple from the Star Watching Academy to find the hiding place of that magical beast."

After analyzing the matter, Huai Zhen readily accepted that all they needed to do was find out the monster's lair, and once they did, they could simply leave.

It was dark.

Huai Zhen walked through the palace, passing by the place where the misunderstanding had occurred that morning. She paused there, her gaze involuntarily drifting towards the direction of Lei Mengying's residence.

After pausing for a few moments, they headed towards the princess's residence. Little did they know, their actions were clearly seen by a graceful figure in the moonlight, who seemed to be deliberately concealing her presence to avoid being noticed.

This person was none other than Lei Mengying.

She had been there for some time, but Huai Zhen was unaware that the situation had changed since he had come to Lei Mengying in search of Shen Lingjiao.

Lei Mengying watched Huai Zhen gradually disappear into the distance, and Shen Lingjiao sleeping soundly behind her, feeling no goodwill whatsoever.

Since you have made up your mind, I will not blame you at all. From now on, we will have nothing to do with each other.

Under the moonlight, Huai Zhen walked slowly. He dared not go too fast, for fear of waking the sleeping Shen Lingjiao. At this moment, her breathing seemed to be tempting him in his ear.

Seeing that innocent face, Huai Zhen couldn't help but feel a mischievous urge, but fortunately he didn't do anything foolish.

Upon returning to the princess's residence, he was bound to receive a severe scolding. Sending the princess back at this time would inevitably cause concern, and the entire Golden Jade Palace would be in turmoil.

Everyone was waiting at the door for the princess to return.

"How dare you! Don't you even know what time it is? Bringing the princess back at this hour? I think you really don't want to live anymore." The silver-armored woman at the door immediately started cursing at Huai Zhen, but when she saw Shen Lingjiao sleeping soundly, she stopped talking and carefully carried the princess into the room to rest.

This must never happen again. As punishment, after everyone went inside, Huaizhen was immediately locked outside. The entire Golden Jade Hall was then enchanted, preventing anyone else from entering.

Huai Zhen stood silently in front of the door. A cool breeze blew in, making him feel somewhat miserable. He couldn't possibly knock on the door to beg for forgiveness.

After pondering for a while, he made a decision: he should go see His Highness and apologize for what happened that morning.