The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

As dawn broke, Blackrock Town was already fully awake.

At this time of day, the streets would normally be filled only with the steaming breakfast stalls, but now every street is crowded with martial arts practitioners carrying knives and swords. They are in groups of three or five, speaking in hushed tones, but their excitement is palpable.

The news that the auspicious white deer had appeared in the deep mountains outside Blackstone Town spread throughout the entire town overnight.

At this time, the Huichun Medical Clinic in the east of the town was even more crowded, with more than a dozen beds fully occupied.

Most of the injured were dressed in tattered clothes, covered with herbs, and wrapped in layers of coarse cloth. The air was thick with the smell of medicine and blood, and a few people could be heard occasionally letting out a suppressed groan of pain.

"Bang"

A sudden noise was heard as the clinic door was kicked open.

Seven or eight burly men with weapons at their waists strode in. The leader, a burly man with a fierce face, glanced at the injured man on the hospital bed and said in a gruff voice, "Listen up, you who encountered the auspicious white deer last night, tell us everything you know, don't hold back."

The people in the hospital beds all frowned.

A man near the door tugged at the bandage on his shoulder, his tone impatient: "Why are you here again? I already told your men last night that the auspicious white deer only appeared in the deep mountains north of the town. If you want to find it, go into the mountains yourself. What's the point of blocking the clinic here?"

"Stop talking nonsense."

A tall, thin man from the martial arts world stepped forward, his eyes sharp.

"We need to know the details, like how you all got injured like this? It's unlikely you went into the mountains, couldn't even find a deer, and ended up in this state, right?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the people on the hospital beds subconsciously changed.

On the innermost bed, a wounded man with blood scabs still on his face trembled slightly, as if recalling something, his eyes filled with fear.

A few seconds later, he spoke in a tight voice, "It wasn't from a fall... Last night, a large group of us, though not from the same side, but still over three hundred in total, found the auspicious white deer. It was in a strangely dormant state, and the three of us were fighting over it when suddenly the white deer woke up."

He swallowed hard, as if recalling the hellish scene of the previous night: "It raised its head, and its antlers glowed strangely. Then... then all the trees around us suddenly came to life. The branches, thick and thin, whipped out like madmen, stabbing into people and piercing their bones. The various plants and weeds on the ground also attacked us as if they had come to life. The scene was terrifying. We couldn't even run away in time. Many people died on the spot. We barely managed to escape with great effort..."

Upon hearing this, the seven or eight江湖 (jianghu) men looked at each other, their eyes filled with a sense of absurdity.

"Nonsense, you're probably trying to fool me."

"Trees becoming spirits? Hey, you're just hallucinating in the middle of the night, scaring yourself half to death. See if I believe you or not."

The men sneered, thinking the injured men were just making up nonsense out of fear.

"It's not a hallucination, I'm not lying."

"What he said is true; we all saw it with our own eyes."

The dozen or so people on the hospital beds spoke in unison, their faces pale, and there was no hint of joking among them.

An injured man in the corner sat up, and because he moved too quickly, he gasped in pain.

He ripped off the bandage on his shoulder, revealing a gaping, bloody hole with flesh torn by splinters along the edges.

With red eyes, he growled, "You bunch of idiots, open your eyes wide! Did you see that? My shoulder was pierced straight through by a tree branch. If it had been half an inch off, I wouldn't be lying here now. We haven't lied a single word. That white deer is incredibly evil; it truly possesses bizarre supernatural powers."

The noisy martial arts community fell silent instantly.

They stared at the gruesome wound, then glanced at the various scrapes and punctures on the other injured people. The mockery on their faces gradually faded, replaced by shock and an irrepressible greed.

Could what they're saying be true?

Able to manipulate plants, this is no ordinary wild deer.

This auspicious white deer truly possesses incredible divine power!

The news spread like wildfire, and the conversation in the clinic reached every corner of Blackstone Town in less than half an hour.

No one waited any longer. A large number of martial arts practitioners, carrying weapons, rushed towards the deep mountains north of the town. Some of the more shrewd ones directly grabbed the wounded who had managed to escape the previous night, holding knives to their necks and forcing them to lead the way.

Before long, the group of people followed the signs and found the cave in the ravine.

But the cave was empty; not even a single deer hair remained.

Broken swords and spears were scattered on the open ground outside the cave, and black and red bloodstains soaked the soil, splattering everywhere, but there was not a single corpse in sight.

"That's strange. Didn't they say a lot of people died last night? Where are the bodies?" someone muttered in confusion.

But no one delved into the matter, because by then, sharp-eyed people had already discovered clear deer hoof prints in the soil, of uniform depth, extending deeper into the mountains.

"Over there, chase after them!"

Excited shouts rose and fell as a large group of people followed the hoofprints.

... ... ...

The auspicious white deer appeared in Blackstone Town, and its extraordinary abilities meant it wasn't confined to the deep mountains.

In just one day, the news spread like wildfire through several surrounding counties, and then, along trade routes and through the martial arts world, it swept across the entire prefecture.

By the third day, even in the capital of Biling Kingdom, hundreds of miles away, rumors began to circulate that a white deer, an auspicious beast, had appeared in the world and could control plants and trees.

Inside the Royal Study of the Royal Palace of Biling Kingdom.

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, King Biling's face darkened as if water were about to drip from it. He slammed his hand on the table, making the inkstone bounce. "Outrageous! These bandits are utterly lawless! I have already decreed that the white deer be designated as a sacred beast of my Biling Kingdom. How dare they openly hunt it down? Do they have no respect for royal law?"

"Father King"

No sooner had she finished speaking than the palace doors were hurriedly pushed open, and Princess Yuan Yao ran in, lifting her skirt.

The little girl had obviously also learned about Qi Ji's situation.

She rushed to King Biling, grabbing his sleeve and pleading, "Father, please send someone to save Little White! Those people want to capture it!"

"no."

A cool, clear voice came from the entrance of the palace.

Princess Yuan Shuying walked in slowly, dressed in elegant attire, her expression carrying an air of unyielding calm.

She glanced at Yuan Yao, then turned to King Bi Ling and bowed: "Father, this matter must not be handled rashly. Although the white deer is known as an auspicious beast, it is ultimately just a wild animal and does not belong to the royal family in any legal sense."

Her tone was calm and her reasoning clear: "The martial arts world and the imperial court have always been two separate paths. If our royal family openly intervenes in the capture operation, those martial arts gangs will not only refuse to obey, but will also feel that the royal family has overstepped its bounds. In that case, we will needlessly offend the entire martial arts world and create more enemies, which will not benefit our Biling Kingdom in the slightest."

"How could you say that, sister!"

Yuan Yao's face flushed red with anger, and she clenched her fists: "Little White is an auspicious beast, the auspicious beast of our Bi Ling Kingdom, how can we watch it be bullied?"

"The affairs of the court are not a place for you to throw a childish tantrum."

Yuan Shuying glanced at her indifferently, then turned to King Biling: "Father, please reconsider."

King Biling looked at his youngest daughter, whose eyes were red and pleading, and then at his eldest daughter, who was calm and eloquent. He frowned and remained silent for a moment.

Finally, he said in a deep voice, "Shuying is right, but Yao'er is not wrong either. After all, the white deer is an auspicious beast personally bestowed by me. Now that it is being surrounded and intercepted by people from the martial arts world, if I do not react at all, what will become of the royal family's reputation?"

He raised his hand and said, "Issue my decree: dispatch a squad of imperial guards to Blackstone Town under the guise of patrolling to search for the white deer and ensure its safety."

"Father is wise!" Yuan Yao immediately stopped crying and smiled, her eyebrows curving upwards.

Yuan Shuying's faint smile froze, her fingers tightened, she lowered her eyes to hide the turmoil in them, said nothing, only bowed slightly, and then left the Imperial Study.

Upon returning to her palace, Yuan Shuying had just closed the door when she abruptly swept the jade bottle off the table.

With a crash, the celadon porcelain shattered on the ground, and the flying shards tore the hem of her skirt, but she was completely unaware.

On what grounds?

Why is it that Yuan Yao gets all the good things from childhood to adulthood?

The king and queen only ever had eyes for that little girl. No matter how hard she tried or how sensible she was, she couldn't compare to Yuan Yao's coquettishness.

Now, even a random wild deer makes the King willing to break court rules just to please Yuan Yao.

Yuan Shuying gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with resentment.

Yuan Yao...

She had long hated this younger sister who had taken everything from her. If Yuan Yao hadn't been born, she would have been her father's only precious daughter and the only princess of Biling Kingdom.

The hall was in complete disarray. Yuan Shuying stood amidst the broken porcelain, a cold smile slowly curving her lips.

"You all want to save that white deer, right? Well, I'll do the opposite. I want to see if you'll still be able to laugh when that white deer dies in the deep mountains, Yuan Yao, my dear sister."