Li Laotou jumped in fright and quickly hopped back a considerable distance.
His speed surprised Bai Shengyi, who couldn't help but cast a glance at him. The moment she did, her pupils contracted sharply.
Beneath the brilliant sunlight, Li Laotou had no shadow behind him!
Bai Shengyi was immensely shocked but showed no outward reaction. Instead, she naturally stood up and walked towards Xuan Qing.
"Senior brother, I was just saying that the wontons from his stall don't taste as good as before."
She pursed her lips and smiled, her gaze quickly sweeping over Xuan Qing, the owner of the stall selling clear soup noodles nearby, and the passersby.
A chill shot up from the soles of her feet to her forehead.
Why hadn't she noticed before that everyone in this city, except for her and Xuan Qing, had no shadows?
Were these people real or illusions? What about her three years here?
At this moment, Bai Shengyi rather missed Xiao Lunhui. If it were here, it might know what was going on.
However, the cultivation world was full of inexplicable phenomena, and Bai Shengyi quickly calmed down.
"Little junior sister, have you remembered your past?" Xuan Qing was incredibly excited, instinctively reaching out to touch Bai Shengyi's head.
Bai Shengyi took a step back and evaded him.
She said calmly, "A little."
Perhaps she truly had a connection with Sheng Yi, or perhaps it was just the strangeness of this place. As Li Laotou was telling his story, many vivid scenes flashed through her mind.
There was serving porridge with a young man in green, riding horses and dueling, eating wontons… so many memories, but almost every one featured the young man in green.
This showed how deep the relationship was between the owner of these memories and the young man.
"That's wonderful!" Xuan Qing's voice was slightly hoarse, his eyes red at the corners.
Although he felt disappointed that the current Little junior sister was not as close to him as before, he still tried to speak gently, "Do you still want to go to the Charity Hall to serve porridge?"
Bai Shengyi shook her head. "I didn't sleep well last night. I want to go back and rest."
As soon as she finished speaking, she sneezed.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?" Xuan Qing asked anxiously.
Bai Shengyi said dismissively, "It's nothing, it's just... Achoo!"
"You still say it's nothing!"
Xuan Qing frowned, brought Bai Shengyi back to the State Preceptor's mansion, and sent someone to fetch a doctor.
Bai Shengyi genuinely felt fine. Her mind was entirely occupied by the deliberately neglected small courtyard in the State Preceptor's mansion. A sneeze was the last thing on her mind.
Moreover, hadn't she sneezed several times before entering the Great Sheng Kingdom? Back then, she and the Reincarnation Brush both thought she had a fever, but nothing happened.
Thinking this, Bai Shengyi did not expect that she would develop a high fever that night, her body burning hot, and even the circulation of her spiritual power would become sluggish and blocked.
The illness came on suddenly, forcing her to temporarily put aside her plan to investigate the small courtyard and focus on recuperating.
Xuan Qing was more anxious than Bai Shengyi herself. He invited ten doctors to examine Bai Shengyi, but her condition did not improve.
"All useless! Useless trash!" Xuan Qing angrily grabbed a doctor and threw him out. The gentle expression on his face had long been replaced by anger and impatience. "You must find a way to cure her! You must cure her! Otherwise, don't blame this Lord for… for a thousand cuts…"
"Senior brother." A clear voice interrupted him. "Don't trouble Doctor Li and the others. I know my own body. It's nothing serious. If you're really worried, could you help me find the herbs on this prescription?"
"I am a alchemist now," she added with a half-smile.
Xuan Qing, whether he didn't notice or had completely convinced himself, took the prescription without hesitation. "Senior brother will go find them now! You wait!"
The smile on Bai Shengyi's face gradually disappeared.
"Even if he suspects you're faking, he'll still go."
The Xuanjing Tiger, now the size of a cat, lay curled in a corner of the room. Its wounds had long been healed by Bai Shengyi's pills, and its yellowish fur was smooth and glossy, making one want to stroke it.
But it did not feel happy. Its tiger eyes gazed into the distance, and it suddenly spoke, "So, Shengyi, are you lying to him?"
"Little Yu'er, guess?" Bai Shengyi leaned against the pillow and sneezed again.
Chui Yu pursed his lips and hesitated. "When Sheng Yi left, it was like this too. He just caught a cold, and didn't even have a fever."
"Although the rotten divine artifact is not a good thing, it truly loved Sheng Yi with all its heart. Shengyi, I hope you don't use this to deceive him."
For some reason, he felt a pang of sadness.
Perhaps it was thinking of Sheng Yi, or perhaps he felt Xuan Qing was pitiful.
Bai Shengyi asked, "Little Yu'er, I haven't asked you yet. With your ability to sense space, can you really not escape from here? How long have you been here?"
"Eleven years," Chui Yu said, but did not answer Bai Shengyi's previous question.
Eleven years… Bai Shengyi thought for a moment, then asked, "Then you knew Sheng Yi and became friends, right?"
"Yes."
Chui Yu looked out the window. The moonlight shone down clearly, and the Snowlotus flowers in the courtyard bloomed one after another, pure and beautiful. If Sheng Yi saw this beautiful scenery, he would surely be overjoyed, wouldn't he?
The collar on its neck had been removed by Bai Shengyi. With a light leap, it spread its wings and flew out of the room. "Shengyi, take care of yourself."
Bai Shengyi was not in the mood to recuperate. Chui Yu's words had put her in a bad mood.
Chui Yu told her not to lie to Xuan Qing, but had it considered that Xuan Qing had kept her here for three years?
She had been missing for so long; how worried must A'si and her friends be?
Xuan Qing was pitiful, but should she, Bai Shengyi, cooperate with him?
What kind of logic was that!
Bai Shengyi sneezed several more times and made up her mind to get out of bed. Just as she was about to go out, she heard a familiar voice in her sea of consciousness.
"Master? My dearest Master Brush? Shengyi? Can you hear me? If you hear Brush's voice, please reply!"
"Little Lunhui, where have you been?" Bai Shengyi's heart leaped with joy. She sat on a nearby chair and quickly communicated with the Reincarnation Brush. "Are you with Xiao Tengye?"
"No, Qingmeng Vine should also be in the divine realm," the Reincarnation Brush said rapidly. "Shengyi, time is short, listen to me. You are not in an illusion, nor are you in the real world. You are in the divine realm of a divine artifact within a time passage. You cannot stay in the time passage for too long, or you will be trapped there forever!"
"However, the divine realms of divine artifacts are incompatible with each other. Brush cannot enter the divine realm, which is why I can only contact you now."
"A divine realm is a world created by the artifact spirit. Although you are within it, the artifact spirit is the master and extremely powerful, but it is actually very fragile. As long as you find its weakness, such as its obsession or delusion, and destroy them, you can escape from the divine realm."
The Reincarnation Brush spoke quickly. "I can't hold on much longer. Shengyi, you don't have much time, you must hurry… Brush will wait for you in the time passage…"
Soon, the Reincarnation Brush's voice disappeared, as if the brief connection was just an illusion.
But Bai Shengyi knew it wasn't.
"Weakness? Xuan Qing's weakness is Sheng Yi."
As Bai Shengyi pushed open the door, she bumped into Xuan Qing, who was holding the herbs and about to knock.
"Little junior sister, are you feeling better?"