"You are unwilling to work for this venerated one?"
In the snowy wind, a cold voice suddenly sounded.
Envoy Cui was startled, his mind not yet catching up, but his body instinctively shook his head rapidly, "No, no, it is my honor to be able to work for you, my lord."
"Heh heh."
A soft chuckle.
Envoy Cui's scalp tensed, wishing he could slap himself.
Who told him not to control his expression just now?
He no longer dared to treat the other party as a easily manipulated young girl. Thinking of the truthful words he had spoken to her not long ago, he wished he could slap himself again.
He had said everything he should and shouldn't have, and the other party had him completely in her grasp.
What made him even more apprehensive was this woman's cultivation... Did he feel that she was even higher than the Divine Lord?
Envoy Cui's status was clearly not low.
Outside the village, a carriage had long been prepared. The driver was not a horse, but a spirit beast dog that somewhat resembled a husky.
These spirit dogs lay prostrate on the ground, snow piling on their heads without daring to move. Upon seeing Bai Shengyi, they immediately lifted their heads, tongues lolling out, and nuzzled affectionately.
"Scram!" Envoy Cui grovelled forward, issuing a warning to the spirit dogs. The spirit dogs immediately cowered and lay back down.
Seeing Bai Shengyi standing there lost in thought, Envoy Cui mistook it for her displeasure at his previous actions and quickly explained, "My lord, these spirit beasts are ferocious and brutal. They must be suppressed at all times, otherwise, they will cause great disaster."
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Bai Shengyi's eyes flickered. She got into the carriage, leaned back on the soft cushions inside, and looked extremely at ease and unrestrained.
Envoy Cui did not dare to follow and sit inside. He grimaced, waved away the person driving the carriage, and honestly took on the role of the coachman himself.
He said, "My lord, you may not know this, but these spirit beasts have low intelligence, like uncivilized commoners. The more they are tamed and suppressed, the more sensible they become, unlike spirit plants, which are born to be good helpers to their masters."
Bai Shengyi understood.
In the Green Rong Minor World, there was a completely different attitude towards spirit plants and spirit beasts.
It was rather peculiar.
However, she did not rashly comment on this attitude. Instead, she said leisurely, "Have you thought about it? What kind of identity do you plan to give me to enter the Divine Temple? I will say this in advance, do not bring up that 'female slave' matter."
The Green Rong Minor World did not have sects, but was jointly ruled by four major cities and the Divine Temple. Over the years, the four cities had acted independently, with the Divine Temple subtly gaining the upper hand.
The Divine Temple was led by the Central Divine Temple, which oversaw the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Divine Temples. This envoy surnamed Cui was the envoy responsible for An Yang Village in the Eastern Divine Temple.
Bai Shengyi had just made it clear that in the Divine Temple, female slaves were very special. Nominally, they were servants who attended to the Divine Maiden, but in reality, they were sacrifices for the Winter Moon Festival.
Every three years, the Divine Temple would select female slaves from the entire Green Rong Minor World. At that time, any maiden who had just turned fifteen was within the selection range.
Because the Winter Moon Festival was of great significance, every selected female slave was meant to dedicate everything, even their lives, to the gods. Therefore, there was an established convention in the Green Rong Minor World that regardless of whether the selected maiden came from the City Lord's mansion, a noble family, the Divine Temple, or a commoner's home, once selected, she must enter the Divine Temple and could not refuse.
Bai Shengyi had no interest in challenging this kind of low-status-ascends-to-high-status plot. Since she had the channels and the ability, she wanted to infiltrate the Divine Temple as quickly as possible and find out the whereabouts of the Divine Wood Heart.
Not hearing Envoy Cui's reply, Bai Shengyi raised an eyebrow and said slowly, "What, are you really planning to let me be a female... slave?"
She emphasized the pronunciation of the last two words.
Envoy Cui's breath hitched, and he chuckled sheepishly, "I wouldn't dare."
"Not dare, not unwilling."
Envoy Cui was on the verge of tears. Why was this woman so difficult to please? Did she have to be so serious?
He hated her in his heart but dared not retort. He still had to maintain a fawning smile on his face. "My lord is joking. With your abilities, even being the Divine Lord would be more than enough."
He flattered Bai Shengyi slightly.
Unexpectedly, Bai Shengyi said, "So you plan for me to be the Divine Lord?"
"Cough... cough cough!"
Envoy Cui nearly choked on his own saliva.
It took him a while to recover. He pulled the reins of the carriage and said miserably, "My lord, please don't joke like this. I cannot do that."
Before Bai Shengyi could say anything, he quickly added, "I have always kept your matters in mind. I have thought about it. You will enter the Divine Temple with the identity of this year's Divine Maiden."
"The Divine Temple sends down divine pronouncements every year to guide the divine envoys to receive the Divine Maiden. This year's pronouncement still points to An Yang Village..."
He paused at this point.
Envoy Cui suddenly had a terrifying guess.
"Why did you stop?" Bai Shengyi was very interested. "Did you find the Divine Maiden in An Yang Village? You took me away, so what about the original Divine Maiden?"
Envoy Cui swallowed his saliva. "That... I did not find any trace of the Divine Maiden in An Yang Village."
It was very strange. According to the guidance of the divine pronouncements in the past, as long as one arrived at the place, checked the village's population registry, and then summoned maidens of the appropriate age to test them with a spirit power crystal ball, one could find the person without much effort. But this year, when he arrived at An Yang Village, the village chief said that there were no maidens of the required age in the village this year.
"May I be so bold as to ask, my lord, how old are you this year?" he asked cautiously.
The mountains and wilderness were battered by wind and snow, the world a vast expanse of white.
Envoy Cui did not hear a reply and was somewhat disappointed. After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "My lord, can you touch this spirit power crystal ball?"
Thinking that he would not get lost by not driving the spirit dogs for a short while, he released the tether and carried a ball into the carriage.
As soon as he entered the carriage, his heart skipped a beat.
What rich and abundant life force!
It was vibrant and full of infinite possibilities, instantly returning him to the season of warm spring flowers, as if seeing all things revive, grass and leaves growing wildly!
Such pure spirit power...
Envoy Cui gazed at Bai Shengyi with burning eyes. He had a premonition that the Divine Maiden he was looking for was definitely her!
Bai Shengyi took the spirit power crystal ball and found that it was a disguised instrument for testing spirit power and spiritual roots, except that this instrument could only test wood spiritual roots.
She calmly placed her hand on the ball, and instantly, green light filled the entire crystal ball! The surging greenness was as thick as the aura of life force in the carriage, making one dizzy.
"Divine Maiden! My lord, you are the Divine Maiden I am looking for!" Envoy Cui exclaimed excitedly.
This way, Bai Shengyi's entry into the Eastern Divine Temple as the Divine Maiden was completely reasonable!
Bai Shengyi remained noncommittal, neither confirming nor denying.
She indifferently tossed the spirit power crystal ball to Envoy Cui, who exclaimed "Ouch" and quickly stepped forward to catch it carefully.
Just as he was about to say that the crystal ball should not be thrown like that, he heard Bai Shengyi ask carelessly but incisively:
"If I remember correctly, An Yang Village has already produced three Divine Maidens. Where did those Divine Maidens go?"
An Yang Village.
Just as Bai Shengyi and Envoy Cui had left, another carriage arrived at the location. A maid and a guard jumped out of the carriage.
The carriage was sumptuously decorated and extremely luxurious. The spirit beasts pulling it were even more precious than the ones Bai Shengyi and her party used.
The maidservant looked around and said, "Young Miss, there's a village here. Shall we find lodging first? The snow is falling heavily, and I'm afraid it won't stop anytime soon."
As the maidservant spoke, she secretly complained about her young miss. Why did she have to go on a journey for no reason! She even said she had a special dream, but what dream was worth them risking punishment from the City Lord and braving the wind and snow to come to this desolate village?
A clear and sweet voice, like that of an oriole, came from inside the carriage. "Go ahead. It's too cold today, so this young lady will not get out of the carriage."
The guard was to stay and protect the young lady. The maidservant resigned herself to the task. However, after knocking on several doors, no villagers opened them.
"What's going on? Isn't this An Yang Village? Why is there no one here?" an incredulous voice came from the carriage. After a moment, a woman stepped out of the carriage.