The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

Qi Ji walked slowly through the remaining snow, his gaze sweeping over the rows of palaces on both sides.

The vermilion walls stretch endlessly, the glazed tiles gleam with a warm light after the snow, the upturned eaves resemble birds spreading their wings, the brackets are layered and exquisite, and the winding corridors and even the stone railings are carved with intertwined cloud patterns, exuding a sense of orderly luxury and craftsmanship everywhere.

In his previous life, he hadn't visited many ancient capitals or film studios, so he couldn't compare the appearance of the royal palaces of the Central Plains dynasties. However, he could still tell the grandeur of this place at a glance.

Along the way, there were already fifty or sixty palaces, pavilions, and gardens of various shapes and sizes, yet the end of the palace walls was still nowhere in sight.

"Little White, Little White, come here quickly!"

Yuan Yao's clear laughter came from ahead.

Qi Ji walked over and saw the little girl standing next to a flower bed with a snowdrift about half a person's height in front of her.

The snowdrift was barely shaped into a deer, with two large white radishes stuck diagonally on its head to serve as antlers, black pebbles pressed into its eyes, and small pebbles arranged to form a crooked mouth. Its body was round and chubby, with distorted proportions, making it uniquely ugly.

"Look, Xiaobai."

Yuan Yao tilted her little face up, her eyes sparkling: "I built this when it snowed heavily before, following the image of you in my memory. It took a lot of effort, and I failed many times before I finally succeeded. What do you think? Do you think it looks good?"

"......................."

(。-＿-。)

Qi Ji fell silent.

He silently examined the "white radish-antlered snow deer," inwardly thinking: Is that all? Do I look that bad? My antlers, my eyes, how does this resemble me at all? This little girl's snowman-building skills are terrible.

Perhaps she sensed that Qi Ji didn't like it.

Yuan Yao tilted her head and looked at her work, somewhat confused.

She clearly thought it was quite cute.

The little girl turned to the female guard who was following not far away, stood on tiptoe and waved vigorously: "Zhihua, come here quickly."

The female guard named Zhihua quickly stepped forward and bowed.

"Little princess, what are your orders?"

"Zhihua, do you think my snow deer isn't pretty?"

Yuan Yao looked up and pointed at her masterpiece, blinking innocently, "I remember when I asked you last time, you said it was very beautiful, but Xiao Bai didn't seem to like it very much. Why is that?"

Zhihua's face stiffened upon hearing this, and she looked slightly embarrassed.

The previous words were just polite words to coax the little princess. It's a stretch to say that the snow deer is pretty; at most, it's ugly-cute.

Zhihua coughed and forced a smile, trying to smooth things over: "Little princess, well... the auspicious white deer is not human after all, and its aesthetic sense may be different from ours. Little princess is skillful, and this snow deer... is already very cute and adorable."

As she spoke, she glanced quickly at Qi Ji, then lowered her head guiltily.

Qi Ji looked at the female guard named Zhihua and thought to himself, "What a sycophant."

Yuan Yao was quite satisfied with Zhi Hua's explanation and had no doubts whatsoever.

The little girl smiled and nodded at her masterpiece, then her mood changed quickly as she glanced at Zhihua and then at Qiji.

"By the way, Xiaobai, do you remember Zhihua? She came to the mountains to look for me with some other people before. She's a royal guard who's been with me since I was a child, and she's been so good to me."

Upon hearing this, Qi Ji carefully examined the female guard named Zhihua. He vaguely remembered that she had been standing next to the royal guard named Linqin.

Qi Ji glanced at it a few times, then flicked its tail indifferently and turned to walk back.

We've had enough of shopping, time to go eat.

"Hey, Xiaobai, wait for me!"

Yuan Yao quickly followed, hopping and skipping.

Walking behind Qi Ji, the little girl couldn't help but reach out to grab his fluffy, flowing white tail.

Qi Ji didn't turn his head, but his tail seemed to have eyes, swaying left and right, accurately dodging Yuan Yao's hand every time.

Yuan Yao tried for a long time but couldn't touch a single thread, but she wasn't annoyed at all. Instead, she got more and more excited and her giggles echoed all the way.

The group soon arrived at Jingchen Palace.

A sumptuous meal had already been prepared inside the hall, with plates neatly arranged on specially made wide and long tables, filling the air with fragrance.

King Bilin simply moved his own dining place here as well, not minding at all that Qi Ji was using the side hall of the palace as his private dining room.

He was sitting behind a side table, his brows slightly furrowed, looking at the stack of memorials in front of him with a somewhat solemn expression.

Seeing Qi Ji enter, he immediately relaxed his brows, smiled, and raised his hand to greet him: "Bai Lu is back."

"Yo"

Qi Ji gave a low hum in response, then walked to the food table, lowered his head, and began to eat slowly and deliberately.

At the same time, he was also calculating the Spirit Points in his mind.

I consumed five precious herbs in one go, gaining a total of 193 points of spiritual energy. After deducting the 100 points used for the last physique enhancement, plus the few points I already had, and the amount I accumulated after eating yesterday, I now have exactly 99 points.

All that's missing is a full meal to reach the round number and then get another physical enhancement.

Yuan Yao rushed in and went straight to Qi Ji, reaching for the osmanthus cake on the table.

Zhihua quickly followed, coughed lightly, and whispered a reminder: "Little princess, according to palace rules, you should first bow to the king. It is impolite to eat directly like this."

"Oh, I forgot."

Yuan Yao smiled and stuck out her tongue. She quickly put down the pastries, ran to King Bilin, and respectfully curtsied as her etiquette teacher had taught her: "Your subject greets Your Majesty."

"That's enough."

King Bilin smiled and raised his hand, his tone full of indulgence.

"Don't stand on ceremony during the meal. Did you have a good time strolling around with Bai Lu all morning?"

"happy!"

Yuan Yao nodded vigorously, then pouted.

"I wish my father could come with me."

"The affairs of state are too numerous for my father to attend to."

King Bilin shook his head, his gaze falling on Qi Ji, and suddenly smiled: "Speaking of which, the thing that is currently giving Father a headache is actually related to this auspicious beast."

Qi Ji paused slightly in his eating, and Deer Ears twitched gently, but he didn't look up and continued eating.

"Huh? It's related to Xiaobai?"

Yuan Yao leaned closer curiously: "What's wrong?"

Bilin Wang reached out and picked up two unusually styled memorials from the table.

The cover design was completely different from the memorials from the Bilin Kingdom itself, making it clear at a glance that it was a letter from a foreign country.

"These two, one is from Hongguo, and the other is from Chiguo."

King Bilin tapped the cover lightly with his fingertip, his tone becoming more serious: "The Hong Kingdom has sent a letter of state, stating that they want to capture the auspicious beast, the White Deer, and are willing to offer a large sum of money to ask our Bilin royal family for assistance. Hmph, their tone is quite polite, but this behavior is tantamount to treating our Bilin Kingdom as a servant, trying to buy the auspicious beast, the White Deer."

Yuan Yao's eyes widened in surprise, and she was about to retort, but King Bilin raised his hand to stop her.

He picked up another letter of state, his brow furrowing even more: "As for the Red Kingdom, they are even more barbaric, directly stating that they will send a large army into the country to hunt down the White Deer after winter ends, and that our people must not obstruct them, otherwise—"

King Bilin raised his eyes, his tone turning colder:

"Otherwise, war will break out."