Primal Spring Meeting

"The former Gatekeeper said that's called the Moonrise Spring. It's full of lunar essence and drinking it is good for them," Ms. Crowe said, handing her a mineral water bucket and a little ladle. "Go quickly! By noon, when the sun shines on it, the water will be gone."

Lily Bai nodded, grabbed the tools, and set off.

Dragon Mountain Hills is actually pretty tall.

Half the mountain is covered in trees, half in rocks. The air is fresh, and snakes or bugs are rare—it's a great place.

This time, she didn’t scout around—she headed straight for the destination.

After about an hour and a half of walking, she spotted a big boulder that looked just like the spot Ms. Crowe described.

There was someone behind the rock.

Lily Bai slowed down and stopped.

That person must've heard her footsteps too, and came around from the other side of the boulder—turns out, it was Supreme Emperor Xavier Xiao.

"Your Majesty!" Lily Bai quickly bowed. "Sorry to disturb you!"

"Here to fetch water?" the Supreme Emperor asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"This way." The President motioned for her to come around.

Following his lead, Lily Bai circled to the back of the boulder and, sure enough, spotted a naturally formed little stone basin below, with clear water flowing inside.

It looked like a small, spiritual spring—crystal clear and full of energy.

Lily Bai noticed there was another small bucket beside it, about the same size as the one she brought, and it was already filled with water.

So he was here to fetch water too?

He actually does this sort of thing himself?

This water... must really be something special.

"Go ahead and fetch some," the Supreme Emperor told her. "Once the sun hits it, it'll dry up fast."

Lily Bai nodded and started scooping water with the little ladle.

The President just stood by and watched.

"Your Majesty, did you come to fetch water too?" Lily Bai asked as she worked.

"Mm-hmm."

"Wow... I didn’t expect you’d come fetch water yourself." Lily Bai laughed. "Is the water for you to drink?"

Xavier Xiao paused for a moment, then answered, "Yeah! This spring water is perfect for tea, and I take the chance to get some exercise climbing the mountain."

"Climbing is great for you," Lily Bai said. "The air up here is so fresh."

"It really is!" Xavier Xiao smiled. "Oh, by the way, I saw your grandfather a few days ago. The moment he mentioned baby Moonlight, he just couldn't stop grinning."

Lily Bai suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable at that.

So the Supreme Emperor knows she's Yvonne Helan's daughter?

This is honestly a little awkward.

Yvonne Helan was supposed to marry him, but she ran off and married Benjamin Bai instead.

If he were the petty type, he’d probably hate her guts.

But the President didn’t seem to care—he just kept chatting: "Your grandfather even praised you for being so filial," he laughed. "He rarely compliments his descendants, so he must truly like you."

Lily Bai was baffled—when was she ever filial?

Maybe Grandpa just said that in public so he wouldn’t lose face?

The President asked again, "I heard from Jenny Shaw that Little Ev isn’t in Haicheng, and he hasn’t come to Dragon City either—where did he go?"

Jenny Shaw talks to him about Evan Lan?

And it feels like the President is really keeping tabs on her and Evan... Does he actually want to take over Evan’s family home?

Lily Bai answered cautiously, "He... is out of town, handling some things."

The President: "Oh... You two went north past the border a while ago—what for?"

He even knows about that...

Lily Bai looked at him, pretending to be surprised. "How did you know?"

"The north hasn’t been very stable lately," the President said. "I checked the border-crossing records and happened to see your names."