Bai Shengyi specifically chose Liya to accompany her, not for her to join her in the deep mountains. She smiled faintly and said, "Before the divine temple, I told the West Divine Master that you only needed to return to the divine temple within three months."
She had not accepted the position of Grand Divine Master, and the affairs of the divine temple were now jointly managed by the West Divine Master and the South Divine Master.
"That's great! Thank you, Lord Bai!" Liya was so touched that her eyes reddened, and tears began to fall uncontrollably.
With her current abilities, it would take her at most two months to travel from Anyang Village to the Central Divine Temple. This meant she could spend a month at home.
She thought of her distraught father when she was a slave girl, and of her mother who cried profusely when seeing her off. She felt even more distressed.
Bai Shengyi's fingertips moved slightly, and a spiritual breeze brushed away her tears. She said softly, "You're about to compete for a divine attendant, how can you still be so prone to tears?"
"Lord Bai..." Liya felt even more like crying. "Lord Bai, is it because of us that you couldn't become the Grand Divine Master?"
She had heard from Minmin and the others that Lord Bai's condition for not becoming the Grand Divine Master was to rename all slave girls as maids, and all maids would have the right to choose whether to stay or leave, to participate in the divine attendant competition, and in the future, to compete for the positions of Divine Master and Grand Divine Master.
The competition would begin this year. Before a Grand Divine Master who could convince everyone in the divine temple was elected, the divine temple would be managed by the current two Divine Masters.
Bai Shengyi felt helpless. This girl was really overthinking things. She didn't become the Grand Divine Master entirely for her own reasons.
When Bai Shengyi stated this, Liya said, "I understand. I will definitely not fail to live up to Lord Bai's intentions."
Bai Shengyi was stunned for a moment. No, girl, what do you understand? Why do I feel like you don't understand anything at all?
However, Liya had already bid farewell to Bai Shengyi and the others and headed towards her home with anticipation.
Coincidentally, as Bai Shengyi looked in the direction Liya was heading, it was towards Aunt Zhang and Uncle Xu's home.
"So Aunt Zhang and Uncle Xu don't have children, but their child was chosen as a slave girl," Bai Shengyi couldn't help but sigh at the wonder of fate.
What she didn't know was that Liya was not the biological daughter of Zhang and Xu. She was a child they had picked up from the mountain on a snowy day and adopted.
...
Within the Central Divine Temple, the West Divine Master suddenly remembered something and hastily made arrangements.
Before long, Yue Jun, the divine maiden who had been imprisoned in the West Divine Temple, was released.
"A Yue, I am truly sorry. There were too many temple affairs during this time, and I actually forgot to release you earlier. Don't worry, there will never be a divine maiden sacrificed again." The West Divine Master was overjoyed and couldn't help but say more, "You should thank Lord Bai more. If it weren't for her—"
"Lord Bai? That Divine Maiden Bai?" Yue Jun impatiently interrupted the West Divine Master.
The West Divine Master did not notice his strangeness. Of course, this was also because Yue Jun had voluntarily become a divine maiden of the West Divine Temple and did not accept any subsidies from it, so the West Divine Master was very tolerant of him.
The West Divine Master smiled and said, "Yes, if it weren't for Lord Bai exposing the Grand Divine Master's plot and defeating him, how many more women would Green Rong have to sacrifice."
The West Divine Master spoke of Bai Shengyi with great reverence.
Yue Jun, however, was about to explode.
The person surnamed Bai actually defeated the Grand Divine Master?
He had almost been injured by the Grand Divine Master when he tried to steal the Heart of the Divine Wood!
He had been waiting to see the Grand Divine Master and Bai Shengyi fight to a mutual defeat, and then he would emerge to reap the benefits. He didn't expect to hear such displeasing news as soon as he came out.
Yue Jun felt unlucky.
He asked impatiently, "Then has the person surnamed Bai already obtained the Heart of the Divine Wood?"
The West Divine Master had already realized something was wrong at this moment. "A Yue, wh-what's wrong?"
Seeing that he couldn't explain anything, Yue Jun's face fell, and he sternly pressed, "Tell me, where did Divine Maiden Bai go?"
"To... to Anyang Village."
A great pressure descended upon him. The West Divine Master said this with great difficulty, his mind in a daze. When he looked up again, Yue Jun had already disappeared.
His heart sank, and he immediately frowned and ordered, "Someone, immediately go to Anyang Village to find Lord Bai!"
...
"The temperature on this mountain is actually much hotter than outside. It truly defies common sense."
Qin Sanxiang fanned herself with her hand, then turned to see Ximen Hongchun sweating profusely. He drew his sword, leaped up, and chopped a banana leaf from a tall banana tree, handing it to Ximen Hongchun.
"Here, fan yourself."
The two had experienced too much together, and there was a tacit understanding between them.
Bai Shengyi looked around but still said nothing.
She scanned the surroundings, found some spiritual plants, and refined a few heat-dissipating pills to give to the two. "My storage bag was crushed when I traversed the space, so I don't have many spiritual plants. Make do with these. I'll find some spiritual plants later to refine some healing medicine for you."
Although there were many spiritual plants in the divine temple, most of them had gained sentience and were cultivated. Bai Shengyi didn't want to take what others had. At that time, she could only ask the West Divine Master to find spiritual plants in Xianrong City to refine medicinal pills to treat Ximen Hongchun's illness.
Ximen Hongchun swallowed a heat-dissipating pill and felt much cooler. He fanned himself with a banana leaf and said, "No need to trouble yourself. Finding the formation is more important."
Bai Shengyi did not object, but she secretly kept the matter of finding spiritual plants in mind.
Among the three, only she was most familiar with spiritual plants, while Qin Sanxiang was more familiar with formations. Therefore, Qin Sanxiang soon took the lead, and Bai Shengyi occasionally picked spiritual plants in the forest, gradually falling behind.
The mountain behind Anyang Village was not large, but it was densely forested and lush with vegetation. As the new Heavenly Dao Tree formed, the ice and snow caused by the old Heavenly Dao Tree disappeared, and the world became clear, a scene of vibrant prosperity.
Birds chirped, and Bai Shengyi vaguely heard footsteps. She looked around but saw no one.
"What's wrong?" Ximen Hongchun asked.
Bai Shengyi shook her head. "You go ahead. Don't worry about me. I'll catch up after I pick this crescent grass."
She hadn't expected to find crescent grass in Green Rong, and it was a sixth-rank one.
Thinking of Ergou, who was still in the contract space and had not woken up, Bai Shengyi decided to take the crescent grass with her.
Moon cats and crescent grass were companions. What if Ergou sensed the presence of the crescent grass and woke up?
Most importantly, if it didn't wake up soon, to maintain its vitality, their transaction contract would automatically turn into a master-servant contract!
"Okay."
Ximen Hongchun knew that with Bai Shengyi's current cultivation, he couldn't help her much by staying by her side. Coincidentally, Qin Sanxiang seemed to have discovered something ahead and was calling him, so he followed.
Bai Shengyi bent down and carefully cleared away the decaying leaves around the crescent grass. Just as she manifested a spade and inserted it into the soil, she heard a strange noise. She immediately let go and flipped to dodge.
She saw that in the spot where she had just stood, a blade mark three feet deep had fallen, and the crescent grass had been crushed into powder.
Bai Shengyi's anger surged. She looked up at the man in white moon-colored clothes who had landed not far away and shouted, "Yue Jun, you're seeking death!"
She had noticed immediately after she dodged that the blade was not aimed at her, but at the crescent grass in front of her!
Upon seeing the condition of the crescent grass, her suspicion was further confirmed.
He had intentionally destroyed the crescent grass she wanted!