"His Majesty has arrived!"

"We pay our respects to His Majesty."

Upon entering the Ninth Princess's palace, a flock of maidservants hastily dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads to the floorboards.

"Ling'er pays her respects to Imperial Father."

A crisp, delicate voice chimed. A slender young girl slowly emerged from the inner chambers, stepping before Li Zheng to offer a formal curtsy.

Is this the Exceptional Spirit Root?

Xu Changshou scrutinized the child. She appeared no older than eight or nine, with rosy lips, porcelain skin, and an innate, overflowing abundance of Spiritual Qi.

Her temperament was fragile. Deep fatigue and a faint, lingering melancholy shadowed her small face, evoking a natural sense of pity.

Xu Changshou inwardly marveled. What grievances could possibly burden a mortal child of such tender age?

Just as Li Ling'er prepared to kneel, Li Zheng hastily caught her arm. "Ling'er, rise quickly... Come, allow me to introduce you. This is the personal guard I have secured for you."

Li Zheng gestured toward Xu Changshou. He hesitated, carefully weighing his words. "His name is Xu Changshou. From this day forth, you may address him as 'Big Brother'."

It was strictly forbidden to expose Xu Changshou's identity as a cultivator of the Immortal Sect, making the title "Senior Brother" inappropriate for the mortal court.

While Li Ling'er was a princess of mortal blood, the moment she stepped into the Green Immortal Sect, she would undeniably be enshrined as a true disciple.

At that fated juncture, Li Ling'er would become Xu Changshou's Junior Sister, elevating her to the exact same generation as the Imperial Advisor Li Xiaoxian.

Stripped of mortal clan ties, his own daughter's seniority within the Sect hierarchy would completely eclipse his own.

Naturally, as a mere mortal, Li Zheng held no true standing to discuss generations with Xu Changshou. Yet, the karmic hierarchy between his daughter and this immortal could not be muddied.

Since "Senior Brother" was forbidden, "Big Brother" would serve as a suitable mortal veil.

Xu Changshou nodded in quiet agreement, offering a faint smile. "Ling'er, from now on, calling me Big Brother Xu or Brother Changshou is perfectly fine."

Li Ling'er blinked her large, pristine eyes. "May I call you Brother Changshou?"

"You may."

Xu Changshou smiled faintly. "Moving forward, your safety rests entirely in my hands."

"Thank you, Brother Changshou."

"Prepare the chambers!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Li Zheng commanded the palace servants to immediately outfit a room, quartering Xu Changshou directly within the princess's inner palace.

His designated quarters lay in the east wing, immediately adjacent to Li Ling'er's main bedchamber.

A single stride beyond his threshold placed him at her door, providing an optimal vantage point to safeguard her life.

In the blink of an eye, two days slipped past within the gilded cage of the palace.

Xu Changshou had initially assumed the mortal life of a royal princess was one of boundless luxury and ease.

To his profound shock, Li Ling'er's daily existence was a grueling, agonizing grind.

At the first crow of the rooster, she was violently roused for morning lessons-memorizing ancient texts and recognizing complex characters.

These morning recitations devoured an entire Shichen. Yet, this was merely the prelude to her torturous studies in the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

One Shichen dedicated to plucking the qin.

One Shichen analyzing Go board formations.

One Shichen grinding ink and writing calligraphy.

One Shichen painting rigid landscapes.

These relentless mortal disciplines consumed six full Shichen of her day. Aside from swallowing hurried meals and momentary trips to the latrine, she was afforded zero respite.

By the time the ink dried on her final task, the midnight hour of Zi had already descended.

As Li Ling'er suffered through her mortal tutelage, Xu Changshou remained a silent sentinel at her side, sitting cross-legged in deep meditation.

Deep into one particular night, having finally completed a sprawling painting, Li Ling'er's frail body surrendered to exhaustion, collapsing into a deep slumber atop her mahogany desk.

Observing this from the shadows, a rare pang of sympathy pierced Xu Changshou's coldly pragmatic heart. To think the mortal royal coil was this suffocating; it was arguably a crueler fate than his own impoverished youth serving as a cowherd for Landlord Wang.

At least in those days, beyond the physical toll of herding beasts, his spirit had roamed wild and free.

Xu Changshou strode forward, gently scooping Li Ling'er into his arms and carrying her into her luxurious boudoir.

"Mother... I am so tired. Please, allow me just one day of rest, okay?"

"Mother, I beg you..."

Thrashing slightly in her sleep, Li Ling'er weakly grasped Xu Changshou's sleeve, murmuring pitifully through her dreams.

Xu Changshou patted her small hand, soothing her night terrors until her breathing evened. Only then did he return to his own chambers to cultivate.

The next day.

Xu Changshou did not break his meditation until the sharp, mechanical twang of a qin drifted through his window.

He knew instantly that Li Ling'er had already endured her morning recitals and was now bound to the instrument.

A trembling maidservant delivered his morning rations. Xu Changshou swiftly washed himself and consumed the meal with pragmatic efficiency.

Pushing open his door, he stepped into the main hall. He found Li Ling'er kneeling rigidly, her small fingers plucking the qin strings in absolute silence.

Her porcelain face was deathly pale. Her brows were locked in a tight frown, radiating a profound, bone-deep exhaustion.

"Ah!"

Her focus slipping, Li Ling'er's finger caught on a string. The nail violently bent back and snapped, sending a bead of bright red blood welling from the tender nail bed.

Li Ling'er let out a sharp cry of pain. A hovering maidservant hastily bound the wound with a strip of cloth, and without a word, Li Ling'er forced her bleeding hand back to the strings.

As she resumed her agonizing play, silent tears inevitably spilled down her pale cheeks.

"Enough!"

Xu Changshou's patience snapped. In a matter of weeks, Li Ling'er would ascend to the Green Immortal Sect. There was zero karmic value in mastering these mundane mortal arts.

There was absolutely no need for her to endure this pointless mortal torment.

Li Ling'er froze, looking up with tear-stained eyes. "Brother Changshou, what is wrong?"

Xu Changshou approached her. "Ling'er, do you hold any affection for the qin?"

"I do not!"

Li Ling'er shook her head vehemently.

"From this breath onward, you shall never touch the qin again," Xu Changshou declared flatly. "You are relieved of all your lessons in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting."

"Truly? That is wonderful!"

A spark of pure joy ignited in Li Ling'er's eyes, only to be instantly snuffed out by ingrained terror. "No... Imperial Mother mandated these lessons. If I abandon them, she will surely exact a severe Penalty."

"I am your personal guard," Xu Changshou stated, his tone radiating absolute authority. "If I say your lessons are over, they are over. Should your mother seek to lay blame, let her come test her mortal authority against me."

"Brother Changshou, you are truly the best! Thank you! I am going to go play!"

Her laughter echoing like silver chimes, Li Ling'er scrambled to her feet and sprinted out of the stifling hall, bolting straight into the lush imperial gardens to chase butterflies.

"Brother Changshou, hurry! There are so many butterflies here! Come catch them with me!"

"Alright, I shall assist you."

Abandoning his cold facade for a moment, Xu Changshou followed her out, weaving through the flora to help her snare the vibrant insects.

Currently, his cultivation base was firmly wedged at the Bottleneck of the ninth layer of Qi Condensation. Shattering this barrier would propel him directly into the tenth layer.

Under his original calculations, he intended to refine a Barrier Breaking Pill and grind through the resistance in one localized push.

However, Ye Shanhu's intelligence regarding the Black Antelope Thunder Ox, followed immediately by Li Daotu's sudden escort mandate, had violently derailed his cultivation timetable.

Xu Changshou had not arrived empty-handed; he had cautiously procured two Barrier Breaking Pills from the market.

Yet, the opportunity to consume them remained elusive. Bound by his mandate to protect Li Ling'er, he dared not risk swallowing a pill and initiating a forced breakthrough.

Breaking through a major realm required Secluded Cultivation-a vulnerable trance that demanded anywhere from a dozen days to several arduous months. It was a luxury of time he simply did not possess.

Over the past few days, Xu Changshou had stolen brief moments to meditate and probe the barrier, but he sensed not even a sliver of an impending breakthrough.

Since the Dao refuses to yield, forcing the issue will only breed heart demons. It was wiser to cease his active cultivation, divert his spiritual focus, and allow a natural fated chance for a breakthrough to manifest.

Thus, Xu Changshou pragmatically decided to indulge Li Ling'er's childish whims for the next few days.

He joined her butterfly hunts, instructed her in the brutal art of cricket fighting, flew paper kites, spun wooden tops, and led her to the imperial koi ponds to fish.

He imparted every mundane game he had once played with the dirt-stained village children during his days as a cowherd.

Imprisoned deep within the gilded palace her entire life, Li Ling'er had never tasted such simple, visceral thrills. Every day became an ecstatic blur of joy.

Within days, the heavy melancholy and bone-deep fatigue vanished from her brow, wholly replaced by the boundless vitality of a lively earthly sprite.

One afternoon, as Li Ling'er gleefully tossed folded paper swallows across the courtyard, the Queen Mother marched into the princess's palace, her face an icy mask of mortal fury.

"Ling'er! I have been informed that you have squandered these past days in idle play, utterly forsaking your studies! Who granted you such insolent audacity?!"

"Ah! Imperial Mother!"

Li Ling'er shrieked in terror, immediately scrambling to cower behind Xu Changshou's robes.

The Queen Mother's piercing gaze locked onto Xu Changshou. "So, you are the cur who has been corrupting my Ling'er," she snarled.

Xu Changshou furrowed his brows. "I merely allowed her to play. I have corrupted nothing."

"Who do you think you are? What gives a mere servant the right to meddle in the affairs of the royal family?!"

"I am Ling'er's personal guard," Xu Changshou replied with chilling indifference. "I am the one who abolished her lessons in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. If you harbor dissatisfaction, take your grievances to His Majesty."

As he spoke, Xu Changshou casually unleashed a fraction of his spiritual Pressure.

How could a fragile mortal coil ever hope to withstand the suffocating gravity of a true cultivator?

The Queen Mother's face instantly drained of all color. Suffocating beneath the invisible weight, she turned and fled in a weeping panic.

"Just you wait! I shall seek His Majesty to deliver judgment upon you!"