AFTER THE incident, the three were reprimanded harshly.
They were forbidden from leaving the rooms assigned to them until they departed the kingdom. Once they returned to their clans, they would face even harsher punishment.
As usual, Lily and Bai Yichen couldn't care less.
Only Tianrui was nervous.
He could already envision his mother's disappointed expression and hear her disappointed words.
He stayed in his room, dejected.
"So, what are you?"
Lily gently stroked the lizard's back as she questioned its origin.
The lizard remained as arrogant as ever.
"Why should I answer someone who broke my jewel?" it harrumphed before turning its back to her.
"I didn't break it," Lily replied. "That bird did. You saw it yourself."
"But you're the one who threw it to that ugly bird!"
"But I'm not the one who broke it," she insisted.
The lizard refused to reply and decided to ignore her.
Its poor jewel...
Gone in the blink of an eye.
It nearly teared up as it recalled how it had shattered into pieces.
Its heart had shattered with it.
Seeing how dejected it looked, Lily removed one of the gemstones from her dangling earrings.
The gemstone emitted pure Spirit Essence.
The moment Lily held it out, the lizard's eyes immediately locked onto it.
"How about I give you this in exchange for the one that broke?"
The lizard hesitated.
Then...
It took the gemstone.
Its eyes sparkled the moment it saw how beautiful it was.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Lily smiled.
The lizard pouted.
"Why are you giving me only one? Shouldn't it be a pair?"
Its greedy eyes shifted toward the other earring.
"No," Lily answered with a smile. "Only one jewel was broken. So you'll only get one."
The earrings were a family heirloom.
She didn't mind losing one.
But someone certainly would.
At least she could still present the remaining one if anyone nagged her about it.
The lizard clicked its tongue.
It rubbed the gemstone...
Then it suddenly disappeared.
Lily clapped.
The lizard immediately felt proud again.
"I am one of the greatest beasts in this world," it declared proudly. "You should bow whenever you see me."
"Oh," Lily merely responded.
Whether it was telling the truth or not...
It certainly didn't look impressive.
"That place you humans call a village originally belonged to me," it said, its voice full of displeasure. "Five years ago, humans barged in, built their houses there, destroyed my home, and took my treasures!"
If it hadn't managed to recover most of those treasures...
It would have killed every single one of them.
So it hid everything inside the volcano.
Then that ugly bird ransacked the place.
Nothing remained...
Except the jewel from before.
It couldn't retaliate because it had created a formation that prevented anyone inside from using spiritual power.
It was supposed to drive people away.
Instead...
It attracted even more of them.
How troublesome.
Now...
The only treasure it possessed was the gemstone this girl had given it.
Speaking of this girl...
Its eyes suddenly darkened.
"You!"
Lily was startled when it suddenly shouted.
It even sat upright like a human and pointed a tiny claw at her.
It looked furious.
"I already paid you back with a treasure."
"That's not it!"
It frowned.
"You are the biggest miscalculation in this world. Yet, for some reason, the world adores you."
The more it looked at her...
The less special she appeared.
So why...
Why did the world cherish this girl so much that it had turned back time for her?
"What do you mean?"
"The world has already turned back time twice because of you!" it said. "If it continues doing that, it will destroy itself!"
Lily froze.
No one...
Should have known about that.
Her expression immediately darkened.
And...
She stopped herself.
She slowly lowered the hand that had instinctively reached out to squash the lizard.
This little fellow knew far too much.
It was definitely no ordinary beast.
"But... What do you mean by the world destroying itself?"
"The world has its own nature and its own rules," the lizard explained. "They exist to maintain order. If they're repeatedly violated, the world will eventually collapse into chaos—-
"—- Turning back time was already something that should never have happened. Yet... The world did it for you."
The lizard had been in deep slumber.
The first time awakened it.
It investigated the disturbance and eventually found Lily.
Even then...
It still doubted its conclusion.
But after the second time...
When the world itself froze the moment she died before turning back time once again...
It finally realized something had gone terribly wrong with Heavenly Nature.
"Can you value your life enough not to die?" the lizard said as though dealing with an enormous headache.
"..." Lily was speechless.
She hadn't died on purpose.
And how was she supposed to know the world valued her so much?
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"It's that mage kid from earlier," the lizard said. "If the world had turned back time for him, I would've understood."
"..."
She had been insulted again.
Sighing, Lily walked to the door—
Not before taking the lizard with her.
"Here's your lizard."
She tossed it toward Jingxuan.
"..."
Jingxuan caught it by reflex.
Just as Lily was about to close the door, Jingxuan quickly asked, "Were you the one who conjured those blue flames?"
Lily blinked. "No. It was this lizard."
Jingxuan glanced at the lizard before his gaze turned cold.
"If you don't want to tell me, then don't. But don't lie so blatantly."
A weak-looking lizard.
One that didn't even seem to be a Spirit Beast.
And Lily expected him to believe such an excuse?
"The Pei Clan would celebrate if you revealed that you had already formed your Soul Core and chosen a Path. Why are you hiding it?"
He couldn't understand.
Why would Lily hide the fact that she was talented?
The Pei Clan would undoubtedly treasure her even more.
So would the other great clans.
She was younger than he was.
Yet she had supposedly formed her Soul Core and chosen a Path before him.
That was something worthy of pride.
Not something to conceal.
"What are you talking about?"
Lily genuinely couldn't follow his reasoning.
What exactly was she hiding?
She wasn't hiding anything.
Seeing that she still looked sincerely confused, Jingxuan chose not to press the matter.
He handed the lizard back to her.
"If you ever need guidance... You can come to me."
If this generation of the three great clans produced exceptional heirs...
The Tianyuan Empire would become unrivaled.
With that, he left.
"You know," the lizard said, "he isn't entirely wrong."
Lily closed the door.
"Whether he's right or wrong doesn't matter," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "There's no reason to rush, so why should I?"
The Soul Core was tested at the age of seven.
So she would do it at seven.
The Path Trial took place at fifteen.
So she would take it at fifteen.
It was Jingxuan she couldn't understand.
What exactly was he in such a hurry for?
The lizard wanted to say something.
But ultimately kept its mouth shut.
Would the girl become angry if it told her...
That it had already chosen a Path for her?
To be safe...
It remained silent.