After transmigrating into the body of the Jade Rat Spirit, I became Nezha's adopted sister.

Sure enough, a moment later, a golden light flashed across the sky, and Sun Wukong angrily turned back, landing on the square with a livid face.

"Brother Monkey! How is it? What did the Jade Emperor say? Who harmed Master?" Pigsy hurriedly went to greet him.

Sun Wukong slammed his golden cudgel into the ground, creating a crater: "Don't even mention it! The Jade Emperor claims ignorance and has no evidence! After Kui Mulang returned to Heaven, he claimed to be seriously injured and refused to see anyone! I, Old Sun, stormed into the Heavenly Prison, but couldn't find him either; even his magical aura didn't match! Someone must be covering for him!"

"Huh?!" Pigsy was dumbfounded. "Then... what about Master? He can't stay a tiger forever, can he?"

Sha Wujing also asked in a deep voice, "Brother, is there any other solution?"

Sun Wukong scratched his head, both anxious and angry: "I've used my Fiery Eyes of Truth to see this spell, and it's incredibly strange. Brute force won't work! Unless we find the caster or know the specific incantation to break it!"

He paced irritably around his master tiger, saying, "It's all my fault! I should have killed that Kui Mulang with one blow back then, and eliminated the threat forever!"

Bai Yeying heard everything clearly from the eaves and couldn't help but tug at Nezha's sleeve, lowering her voice: "Third Prince, do you know something? This magic, it really is the Jade Emperor..."

Nezha glanced at her sideways, neither admitting nor denying, and simply said, "The Heavenly Court has its own rules."

That was tacit agreement. Bai Yeying clicked her tongue and whispered, "His Majesty the Jade Emperor is quite... shrewd." She didn't dare to say the word "immoral" out loud.

Nezha snorted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Below, Sun Wukong was already furious, but there was nothing he could do. He tried several other methods to test the spell, but all to no avail.

Pigsy suggested going to the Bodhisattva, but Monkey King rejected the idea: "If the Bodhisattva could easily solve this, the Jade Emperor wouldn't have used this trick! It's obvious he wants me, Old Sun, to clean up this mess myself!"

Time passed slowly, and the sun began to set.

The panic in the royal palace of the Kingdom of Baoxiang did not ease; on the contrary, it intensified because the problem of the holy monk turning into a tiger could not be resolved for a long time.

Rumors began to circulate, saying that the pilgrims were demons and that Baoxiang Kingdom had brought disaster upon itself...

The king's gaze toward Sun Wukong gradually shifted from anticipation to doubt and fear.

"The Great Sage seems to have a headache," Bai Yeying whispered, looking at the distraught Sun Wukong below.

Nezha suddenly spoke, his tone somewhat ambiguous: "You want to help him?"

Bai Yeying was taken aback and turned to look at him. "Me? What can I do to help? I don't even know what kind of magic that is..." She paused, then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait, Third Prince, do you have a way?"

Nezha shifted his gaze to the distant palace wall: "The solution isn't with me."

"Then who is it?"

Nezha did not answer, but his gaze seemed to sweep casually towards the depths of the palace, towards the direction of Princess Baihuaxiu's bedroom.

Bai Yeying followed his gaze, and a sudden inspiration struck her!

Princess Baihuaxiu! The woman Kui Mulang secretly met while descending to the mortal realm! If this magic was orchestrated by Kui Mulang, the Jade Emperor might have left a contingency plan. But could that plan involve the princess? After all, Kui Mulang's feelings for her...

The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Her heart pounded, and she turned to look at Nezha, her eyes filled with eager excitement and inquiry.

Nezha met her gaze and understood its meaning. He frowned, clearly disapproving.

"Third Prince," Bai Yeying leaned closer, her voice low and pleading, "I'll just go take a look and ask, I promise I won't do anything rash! What if... what if the princess really knows something? Look how worried the Great Sage is, and it's not a good idea for Master to keep that tiger chained up all the time!"

She tugged at his sleeve and shook it gently: "I'll just go and sound him out. If it doesn't work, I'll come right back. I promise I won't get caught! Okay?"

Nezha was annoyed by her dangling, and even more so by the cunning and expectation in her eyes, which made him a little unable to resist.

He abruptly pulled his sleeve back, turned his face away, and refused to look at her.

"Suit yourself." He bluntly uttered two words, "If you get caught, don't expect me to bail you out."

That means you've agreed!

Bai Yeying's face instantly lit up with a smile, and she nodded vigorously: "Yes! I'll go right now!"

With a swift movement, she transformed back into her original form, a small, silvery-white mouse. Sliding silently down the shadows of the eaves, it nimbly made its way towards Princess Baihuaxiu's bedchamber under the cover of twilight and the garden's vegetation.

Nezha stared in the direction she had disappeared, his brows still furrowed. He stood there with his arms crossed, his divine sense quietly spreading out and enveloping that area.

Bai Yeying slipped away quickly, dodging several patrolling guards, and soon found herself under the back window of Princess Baihuaxiu's bedchamber. The room was lit, and the faint sounds of a woman's low sobs and a maid's soft words of comfort could be heard.

She spotted an opening, slipped through a crack in the window, and peeked out from the shadows of the curtains.

Princess Baihuaxiu sat before her dressing table, gazing at her own tear-reddened eyes in the mirror, her expression sorrowful. Two of her personal maids stood beside her, their faces also etched with worry.

"Princess, please don't cry, you'll hurt your eyes," a maid advised.

"How can I not cry?" Baihua choked out. "That holy monk... that tiger, what if he can't turn back? He saved me, but because of my Baoxiang Kingdom, he suffered such a great calamity, and so did he..." Her voice trailed off, and she didn't finish her sentence, but Baiye Ying knew that she was referring to Kui Mulang.

Another maid whispered, "Princess, that yellow-robed monster... Lord Kui Mulang, could he possibly have a solution? After all, he is..."

"Don't mention him again!" Baihua Xiu abruptly interrupted, her voice filled with pain and resolve. "He has wronged me so much, kidnapping me for thirteen years, and now... I have long since severed all ties with him!"

Even so, the struggle and pain in her eyes were undeniable.

Bai Yeying crouched behind the curtain, her small eyes darting around. It seemed the princess harbored both hatred and... well, perhaps not entirely indifferent, towards Kui Mulang?

As she was pondering how to get something out of the other person without startling them, suddenly, the candlelight in the hall flickered gently without any wind.

A cool, refreshing aura quietly permeated the hall.

Baihua Xiu and her two maids were completely unaware.

But Bai Yeying keenly sensed it! This aura... it's Kui Mulang? He actually dared to sneak back here?

On the dressing table, the surface of the bronze mirror rippled almost imperceptibly, like waves on water.

Beside the sorrowful face reflected in the mirror, a blurry phantom image appeared—it was Kui Mulang! His lips moved slightly, but no sound came out; he was clearly using some kind of secret telepathic technique.

Baihua Xiu seemed to sense something, and suddenly looked up at the bronze mirror. Her pupils contracted sharply, and all the color drained from her face.

"You..." Her lips trembled, almost letting out a cry, then she abruptly covered her mouth and looked at the two maids beside her. The two maids looked at her with suspicion.

Baihua Xiu forced herself to remain calm and waved her hand, saying, "You can all go now. I want to be alone."

"Yes." Although the two maids were puzzled, they still withdrew as instructed and closed the palace door.

Only Baihua Xiu remained in the hall, along with the increasingly clear phantom in the mirror.

"You dare to come here?!" Baihua Xiu lowered her voice, but couldn't suppress the trembling and anger in it.

The phantom of Kui Mulang in the mirror looked haggard, his eyes filled with guilt and pain: "Shu'er, I'm sorry to you, and even more sorry to the Holy Monk. I... I had no choice in the matter."

"Not my own choice? That's what you say again! You kidnapped me back then, and now you're harming the Holy Monk, all because you were not my own choice?!" Baihua Xiu was in tears.

"This time is different!" Kui Mulang said urgently, "I have my reasons regarding the Holy Monk. But I've risked coming here today to tell you the solution!"